


Love Locked (The Labyrinth Lock)

by kissthemoon23



Category: Xiaolin Showdown (Cartoon)
Genre: Adventure & Romance, Alternate Timelines, F/M, Fantasy, Funny, Jack Has Issues, Jack Is A Genius, Jack being Jack, Jack-Centric, Jackxkimiko, Slow Burn, Strong Female Characters, Trapped, Tsunderes, Xiaolin Showdown - Freeform, cant think of tags, finding yourself, innocent love story, kimiko dissing jack, kimiko is awesome, overpowered Shen gong wu, spineless Jack, tsundere kimiko
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-20
Updated: 2018-12-13
Packaged: 2019-08-26 02:45:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 30,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16673248
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kissthemoon23/pseuds/kissthemoon23
Summary: A Kimiko Tohomiko x Jack Spicer adventure and romance.Since they met Kimiko has seen Jack Spicer as nothing more than an evil jerk and to Jack, Kimiko is just another member of the Xiaolin warriors standing in his dark path. But when the two become trapped inside a mysterious Shen Gong Wu that toys with their thoughts and emotions, they slowly begin to discover themselves and to their surprise - each other.





	1. The Labyrinth Lock

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not sure if anyone reads much XS fanfics anymore but I started re-watching episodes of the original Xiaolin Showdown series in my spear time for childhood nostalgia and am falling in love with it all over again. So here's a fairly innocent slow-burn romance between Kimiko and Jack. Most of the story is taken from Kimiko's POV. 
> 
> I'm trying to keep the story as canon- character personality and show script style-wise.
> 
> However based on the events that occur, the story will branch of into an alternate timeline. Currently the first chapter takes place a little after the events of Season 2 episode 3 in a slightly altered timeline where Wuya was revealed to be out of the puzzle box and back in her ghostly form but she hasn't yet re-joined Jack, Raimundo is not a Xiaolin apprentice and Jack is going it alone without Robo-Jack.
> 
> Thanks for reading!

_His face is getting closer._

_Kimiko....how  the heck did it come down to this?_

_Why of all people is it him?_

_Why is Jack Spicer, the guy I once considered an enemy, a fool and a selfish coward going to be my first kiss?_

_And why... why right now is it him whom I  so badly want it to be above anyone else...?_

 

**CHAPTER 1- THE LABYRINTH LOCK**

 

"So, let me get this straight. This Labyrinth Lock sort of break dances open and makes other people want to join in? It gets street cred but isn't very threatening... still I get that over-exertion is a thing. "

Raimundo queried jokingly, prodding at the Shen Gong Wu scroll hanging loosely in his hand. The Labyrinth Lock in question was a newly activated Shen Gong Wu that took on the form of a large padlock.

"No, no …I mean yeah that's what it looks like from the moving image- sometimes I wonder how the scrolls come up with these..." Dojo remarked as he transported the young Xiaolin warriors through the chilly skies above the Norwegian highlands.

 

"Anyway," he continued, "the Labyrinth Lock does this thing where it, you know…spins and you fall inside… because it er… opened..."

 

"I see! So it traps another in a manner similar to that of the puzzle box that sealed Wuya?" Omi, who was seated in front of Raimundo, asked with a finger and thumb stroking the chin of his bulbous head.

 

"Well not exactly…I think, yes, there was something el-" Dojo began, but Omi, who had climbed closer to Dojo's head to hear him clearly over the roaring sound of a sudden chill wind cut him off,

 

"So how exactly does one open this Shen Gong Wu?"

 

"Well… like I said," Dojo answered loudly, "it spins and then BAM, WHOOSH, open and they're in…" Dojo sniffled uncomfortably enough that it didn't escape a perceptive Raimundo who often waited for any opportunity to laugh. 

"Of all the Shen Gong Wu descriptions you've ever given Dojo, that, by far was the best. Excellente man." he clapped slowly, his voice thick with sarcasm.

 

"But that did not sound very informative, on the contrary I am now even more confused. Why does it go BAM and WHOOSH?" Omi raised his eyebrows puzzled by Raimundo's praise.

 

"Ha ha, fine I don't remember okay? Look you two, I'm tired. This was a long trip and we've been in the air and on the look out for ages- not to mention I'm getting older." Dojo groaned defensively

 

"Heh, "getting"" Raimundo snickered nudging Clay, who was behind him, lightly in the gut. Clay had a wide smile slapped on his face.

 

"Oh shut it. Glad to see you still have so much youthful energy." Dojo moped in response. " Back in the day there were some weird Shen Gong Wu Dashi kept the details for under wraps, that or the incidents related to them were so embarrassing that I forced myself to forget."

 

"Or you're just old," Raimundo offered teasingly. He turned to Clay for approval but Clay's face was still frozen in the same huge grin.

 

"Dude, what's up with you?"

 

"Can't…talk…stuck…air…cold." Clay managed to mumble out through the side of his mouth.

 

"Dojo, we almost there? This cowboy needs to get his butt back into some Texas-styled heat." Raimundo rubbed his palms together and blew hot air into them, then directed them towards Clay playfully imitating a heater. 

"Oh yes, let us quickly find the Labyrinth Lock so that we may warm Clay's behind." Omi responded innocently.

 

"We're really close this time, I'm lowering altitude now." 

 

" You said that ten times already and what the heck is a Labyrinth anyway?" The long journey was getting to them all. 

 

 Kimiko who was sitting at Dojo's tail end had been tiredly letting the others' small talk slide through her ears, but she perked up at Raimundo's question- when the chance came to consult her PDA she'd take it. She had installed a unique Encyclopedia app that gave a background to everything without needing Wifi.

 

"Pickypedia says," she began informatively in a voice that was mature for her fourteen years, her heart-shaped face lightly aglow from the blue light that the PDA emitted.  "A Labyrinth is a complicated structure, much like a maze, made specifically to have one lost in it. But, it also says, in some legends that a Labyrinth reveals one's unmasked self or even leads them towards their true... holy cow!"

"Huh? Towards their true holy cow?" Raimundo and Omi gawked at her over Clay's iced-over shoulder.

 

"Not that, look guys, it's gorgeous!" Kimiko pointed towards the scene ahead of her:

 

A grand meandering fjord with crisp waters of a cornflower blue surrounded by towering snow-capped mountains. Hanging majestically high above the fjord was a long rock plateau that seemed to catch the sunlight on it's surface as they observed it.

 

"Yes, it is truly magnificent!" Omi's eyes expanded to five times their size.

 

"It's kinda ominous though." Raimundo said in a dark tone aimed to cancel out their opinions. 

 

"Really? Seems more romantic that eerie." Kimiko mused.

 

"Yeah you're so right, if you're looking to make your lover take a nose dive off the cliff instead of just calling it quits." Raimundo smirked at her as she frowned. 

 

"Ah, Pulpit Rock- I hear it's a great attraction for film-makers. The Labyrinth Lock has got to be somewhere around here, let's hope we don't run into any camera crew while we're at it." Dojo commented as he circled the area.

 

"That wouldn't be half as bad as a Jack Spicer." Kimiko croaked out cringing.

She didn't have too many people on her dislike list, but, the self-proclaimed, self-centered, whiny evil boy genius Jack Spicer was one of them. Sure he'd helped them out two months ago with a time-machine when Omi needed to travel to the past, sure, he was talented with his tech but he'd made it very clear that it was all for his own "future world dominating" gain.

Would it kill him to think of someone other than himself? Probably, because he'd revealed to them time and again that he'd ally with and betray anyone once it pushed him to the top.

 

"Hey Kim…?"

 

Kimiko bit down on her lip as she thought. She had once on a slow day happened to fleetingly wonder (very minutely) why it was that Jack wanted to rule the world? Simply for the sake of living up to his "evil" title? Did he think that winning at evil was a contest- that it wouldn't also involve messing up others' lives?

 

"Yo Kim-i-ko…!"

 

 _Well one thing's for certain_ , Kimiko deliberated,  _Jack wore all of what he was on his grimy overcoat sleeves and they could be summed up in one word: "jerk."_

 

"Ring ring, calling Kimiko, hello!?"

 

"Huh? What is it Raimundo?" She asked a little sharply. His singsong voice had tugged her out of her angry thoughts. 

 

"You okay, sleepy?" He appeared concerned.

 

"Mm?" She mumbled distractedly. 

 

"You spaced out for a while there girl. I was trying to tell you not to jinx it by mentioning Spicer and asked what Wu you got on you?" 

 

"Oh…yeah?" She responded, her tone softening,  "Sorry Rai- along with the Star Hanabi I've got the Lotus Twister."

 

 _Damn did I let my mind  stumble on Jack for that long_?… _Never again!_

 

Raimundo stared at her - the caring light in his eyes was snuffed out by a mischievous glint poised to stir trouble. 

 

"Were you planning up some date ideas for this "romantic" location?"

 

" **WHAT, NO**!" she blurted ferociously.  "With him? Not in this universe or any other!" Raimundo raised his eyebrows stunned by her reaction. Omi peered over the top of his shoulder curious. Kimiko fumed. 

 

"Woo wee it sure is one hell of a sight."

 

"Heh...Glad to see you finally melted Clay." Raimundo chuckled ignoring or maybe just trying to steer the attention away from Kimiko's random outburst.

 

Once she'd calmed down a bit she was able to ponder on the fact that it was nice having Raimundo back in their small group. Kimiko had initially been furious upon his teaming up with the Heylin side- a moment of prideful pettiness she would normally associate with a certain gothic jerk.  She'd chosen to overlook the impatience and anger that had been slowly festering within him the days leading up to his betrayal- thinking that he'd be Raimundo- mull it over and then return to his care-free self, except, that hadn't happened.  However, when he re-captured Wuya, re-grouped with the Xiaolin warriors and apologised she forgave him instantly, missing that sense of normalcy he'd brought to their crazy abnormal life. 

In Raimundo's short absence they'd had Jack. Things had been too hectic, too wild, too chaotic for her to have studied any effects Jack had had on their dynamic. He'd floundered around. They asked him to be helpful. He screwed that up. She'd gotten mad. The one positive thing that she could currently strain from her memory  was the look he wore when Omi asked him to stay. He understood the concept of pity at the very least. 

 

She grumbled,

_What's my problem!?_

She was thinking about Spicer again- this trip needed to end. Still, there was still a plus side to the long day- she got to see that view.

When Kimiko had heard they were going to Norway- somewhere she'd always wanted to visit, she decided to dress for the occasion. Her hair was it's natural black, parted to the side and in one low, wavy braid that reached to the middle of her back. She'd accented it with hair clips on both sides shaped like angel wings and of a glistening silver. She had on a black long-sleeved cheesecloth, v-neck shirt with a maroon coloured, leather, warrior styled waistcoat. Her Culottes pants were also maroon and accessorized with a large silver-coloured belt. To top off the ensemble she wore a medium grey, fur-lined coat that just about stopped at the top of her tall, black, strappy leather boots.

Before her mom had passed away she had always used to dress up her and her sister in fantastical clothes to their amusement, so Kimiko had continued the trend which she enjoyed to hype her up for their quests. Not to mention she always had access to several Tokyo street styles and high fashion pieces.

 

"Wait, stop Dojo! I think I spotted something out of the top of my irises."

 

"That's "the corner of my eye" partner."

 

"Correct!"

 

They landed on a pathway that lead towards Pulpit rock and Dojo shrank to his original size.

 

"Omi's right, what's that shining thing over there ?" Kimiko had seen something hanging loosely from a branch that seemed to be stuck in the rock face just beneath the cliff's edge. The glow of the mid-afternoon sun bounced off its surface. 

 

Dojo suddenly whipped on a magnifying monocle to inspect what it was before they made their way over.

 

"Yep that's got to be the Labyrinth Lock. I can see it…and feel it." he shuddered dramatically.

 

The warriors ran swiftly towards the cliff's edge when nearby they heard a dismally familiar buzzing noise.

 

" You jinxed it Kim." Raimundo commented flatly. They assumed a wary fighting stance as a smug Jack Spicer and ten of his Jack bots hovered before them.

 

"Well, welly well it's the Xiaolin failures looking all washed out," he'd noticed the bags under their eyes and their half-frozen cowboy.  " You're more than outmatched, the way I see it I got this Wu locked! Ha, get it? Locked?" Jack cackled wildly at his sad attempt at a joke.

 

"Spicer, your jokes are as flat as Daddy's farmland after harvest day and I'd say you're looking more pathetic than before without that old ghost hag on your shoulder… which is  saying something." Clay taunted gaining back his fire.

 

"Shut it meat face… I don't need Wuya on my side with these new beauties," he gestured with his thumb at the Jack bots.  "I got here fine on my own." He scratched at his nose, Kimiko could tell he was obviously pouting.

 

"What happened to your devious doppleganger?" She scowled, knowing that just one Jack in their lives was more than enough. 

 

"Seems like even you weren't on your own side..." Raimundo smiled at her and shrugged at Jack in mock concern. While they were bating him, Omi was edging closer to the Shen Gong Wu. 

 

"Stuff it Douche-mundo, Robo Jack was acting up, what can I say- he's me, but I blame the added hormones chip. He needs a bit of tweaking to reach this perfection. " Jack pointed to himself with two pale, crooked fingers. "I get what you're doing, enough wasting my time." A Jack bot appeared before Omi, barring his path. "Ultimate Jack bots attack!" Jack ordered loudly before they could contribute to any more insults.

 

Kimiko rocketed into the air with her signature move "Judolette flip" and easily took out a share of three "ultimate" Jack bots with streams of blazing fire.

"Allow me to make up for that jinx!" Kimiko addressed Raimundo as she darted towards where the Lock was beneath the cliff.

 

She was still disturbed that she'd had Jack in her thoughts for even a second.

Jack himself was already heading towards the direction of the Labyrinth Lock on his helipack  whilst the others had just finished destroying the Jackbots that came at them…well except for Raimundo who yelled and sent two flying off the side of the cliff moments after there's.

 

"Knock yourself out girl!" he called back at her, a little out of breath. Normally these bots were a cinch for them to destroy but with sleep deprivation thrown in, they were just a tiny bit more meddlesome. Like having to swat a mosquito instead of a fly. 

 

"You see, if Raimundo was at Xiaolin Apprentice level he would have also defeated these simple enemies very quickly."

 

"Omi, don't you dare start with that again!" Raimundo and Omi bantered away- but to a focused Kimiko it became background noise.

 

"LOTUS TWISTER!" She cried out and stretched one long arm to grab onto the cliff's edge, leaped into the air and swung fearlessly out into the open above the fjord's water that was miles below. She'd been caught up by adrenaline and obligations but once she felt the open air engulf her, sense kicked in and she chanted to herself- 

_Don't look down, don't look down, focus on snatching the Wu._

 

She took a grab with her free hand for the Lock just as Jack reached for it, but, seeing her lunging explosively in his direction startled him and he clumsily flung backwards on his helipack. To him she looked dangerous and fearless. The push of his retreat was so forceful that one of his lanky legs accidentally kicked at the branch that the Lock was dangling from and sent the Shen Gong Wu propelling downwards.

 _Oh crap... I've got no choice, look down!_  Kimiko internally cried.

She extended her reach with the Lotus Twister to as far as it would take her whilst Jack twisted in mid air above her and dove for the Shen Gong Wu as it fell. She managed to grab hold of the large padlock's body at the exact moment as Jack took hold of its shank. She let her Lotus Twister-ed arm that was clutching at the cliff go so that she could grab onto the large Labyrinth Lock with both hands.

She relied on the pull of Jack's helipack and the powers tied to a Xiaolin Showdown to keep her afloat.

She was right to. She steadied her breathing. 

She and Jack hovered in mid-air holding onto the now illuminated Shen Gong Wu with their eyes locked in a challenge- hers a sky blue and defiant and his a taunting but cautious crimson red. Their bodies were angled opposite each other at almost 180° as if they were para-diving.

 

Kimiko was just about to shout it out when a triumphant Jack beat her too it.

 

"I challenge you to a Xiaolin Showdown! My lovely Kimiko- " she flinched at the word "my."

 

"When was the last time we Showdown-ed again?" He grinned baring all of his teeth. 

 

"That time I beat you! Remember? You fell off a cliff sort of like this one and onto your face just like normal- like the loser you are- which is always."

 

"Really easy with words aren't you? That's why you're still my favourite." Jack breathed, his tone condescending. His voice was gravelly, openly amused and often started in a high cadence, to Kimiko it  sounded like it was only just breaking. He was such a creep with his cheesy "smooth talk" but a big cry baby when it came to the actual fight.

 

"Just shut up and name the game Spicer."  This sort of trash talking was the way they'd usually greet each other and she didn't expect that to change anytime soon. No matter what length of time they spent in each other's company, there was no way they could see eye to eye- they were of two different mindsets, on opposing sides and shared nothing in common except their knowledge of the world of Shen Gong Wu. This was how it was and Kimiko was fine with that. 

 

"Play nice…whatever. The game is Hang gliding- the Lock will continuously fall until one of us is able to catch it on gliders. Think of it like flying a broomstick and catching the Golden Snitch" Jack snickered- a sharp cackling sound. 

 

"You're stupid, but fine. Let's go Xiaolin Showdown!" Kimiko barked, dead serious. 

 

They roared in unison, "GONG YI TAN PAI!" 

 

Up on land the other Xiaolin warriors were watching them and shouting their support for Kimiko.

 

Dojo on the other hand began to pace.

 

"No… there's something…what is it? Labyrinth Lock…Labyrinth Lock…GAHH!" Dojo suddenly exclaimed.

 

"What's wrong, what is it Dojo? Clay asked concerned.

 

"I remembered, Oh no… this is bad…so bad! Kimiko let go of that Shen Gong Wu, you weren't supposed to touch it at the same time!" Dojo panicked as he dashed closer to the edge of the cliff yelling.

 

"Dude are you crazy? If she let's go now she'll fall!" Raimundo berated, animatedly.

 

"Not to mention we forfeit the Xiaolin Showdown." Omi added confused by Dojo's lack of fighting spirit.

 

"Trust me," Dojo said loudly, addressing mainly Kimiko and Jack. "It's a much better alternative, let that thing go Kimiko, I'l just catch you! This Wu isnt your average Wu!"

 

Kimiko had already sensed something was off when they grabbed hold of the lock but Dojo's words just served to confirm her suspicions.

 

"Okay…correct me if I'm wrong here but when we shout Gong Yi Tan Pai doesn't the whole place start changing up all wonky and crap and we get into the game? So tell me why that isn't happening right now?" Jack said shakily and his voice grew shakier with each word. Only it wasn't Jack's voice that was shaking but the Lock had started to violently vibrate.

 

"Stop doing that idiot!" Kimiko cried once she realized she was unable to let go.

 

"It's not me, are you making it do this…? You… crazy rich Asian woman…I..I don't like this…mommy!" Jack started to wail his voice rising several octaves as they were rocked from left to right.

 

Kimiko growled loudly back "I'm not doing this either you jerk, it's got to be the Shen Gong Wu!" Her voice trembled with the movement. 

 

There was a quick flash of light and the two of them were thrown higher into the air. The Labyrinth Lock, floating on its own, suddenly began to spin rapidly. The Shen Gong Wu had released them but was now pulling them inwards. Their helpless bodies orbited around it like they were being sucked into a vortex and were shrinking in size to fit. 

 

Jack was swallowed by the lock first and the last thing Kimiko heard before she fell into darkness was the sound of her friends shouting her name.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologise for the Harry Potter golden snitch and Crazy rich Asians reference lines...I just couldn't help myself xD
> 
> Disclaimer: I own the rights to neither of the above references made.


	2. BLIND DECISIONS

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kimiko's first person POV is written in Italics ^-^

 

Kimiko fell down in a sitting position with a loud thud, whatever she'd landed on was soft and had cushioned her fall- the impact wasn't as painful as she thought it would be. She suddenly blinked in a  panic, the space around her was so suffocatingly dark that she'd thought her eyes were closed.

_What is this place? Is this inside the Wu..?_

Everything before she fell had happened so quickly that she hadn't fully processed it, but it did happen- she and Jack Spicer had been pulled down into the Labyrinth Lock Shen Gong Wu.

 _So_ , she pieced together,  _this is probably a labyrinth of some sorts...and..._ _the flabby thing I'm sitting on might be…?"_

 

"You're…you're crushing my stomach." A voice gasped out from beneath her.

 

"I know. That's why I haven't moved yet."

 

"Kimiko? Hold on, please move…I'm gonna hurl." Jack groaned.

 

Kimiko shot up instantly. Still seeing nothing but smothering darkness, she heard what sounded like Jack spluttering somewhere to her right and then shuffling to his feet.

 

"Actually... I'm fine… you can fall on me all you like." Sliminess was evident in his voice. Kimiko was ready to use her own tiger instincts to slap it off him, if he could see the look she was wearing he wouldn't be so brave. 

 

"You know, you were also pressing down on my eyes so I couldn't…ARGHH!" Jack bellowed out a deafening, high pitched scream.

 

 _He's noticed how dark it is,_ Kimiko sighed covering her ears, waiting for Jack panic to set in next.

 

"I'm blind!" He wailed hysterically. "You blinded me you freaky beast woman! You're more evil than I am!"

 

"Shut up Jack. You're not blind we're.."

 

" **WE'RE DEAD!**  I'm too young, I haven't even ruled the world yet, now I'm dead… and  _with you!_ " Jack cried the last words out despairingly. So much for her being his "favourite."

 

Kimiko let out a loud agitated groan as Jack sniffled out:

 

"I want to call home…"

 

"Oh, wait my phone!"  She pulled the knapsack off her back and managed to feel for her phone but to her horror it wasn't turning on- for some reason the charge was dead.

 

  _Weird, my phone is always charged and it holds out for 24 hours! S_ he frowned.  _Ok so no phone, think…we need light._

 

 She grabbed out her PDA next. She could operate it with her eyes closed which was quite handy for pitch-blackness. She turned it on and switched on the flashlight app. The light illuminated a conical portion of space around her but not much more- the place was vast.

"Ah…so I'm alive? Then where are we exactly?" Jack asked shuffling quickly forward on his knees towards the sanctity of the light.

 

"I think," Kimiko responded moving her face closer to the PDA, "we're inside the Labyrinth Lock, it dragged us down here after we touched it..."

 

Jack suddenly yelped and scrambled backwards.

 

"Eh, what? What's there?" Kimiko croaked out. Holding the PDA up like a grenade she quickly scanned around.

 

"Err ha ha, yeah..it's nothing, just the screen light shining under your face like that made you look so ugly it was totally terrify..." He began so honestly that she was ready to strangle him. 

 

She shot the light directly at his eyes, dazing him as she cut him off "...If I knock out yours would that make you less scared you baboon!?" Kimiko's temper rose immediately, dislike oozing through every syllable. 

 

_I'll roast an idiot._

 

Jack skidded further away from her.  _"_ I'm not scared. Baboon…seriously? You need to work on your insults. I can give you lessons once we get out of here." He answered trying to sound confident but his voice cracked slightly and Kimiko wasn't convinced.

She was going to make a crude comment but as soon as she opened her mouth the light from the PDA vanished.

"No way…did the battery die too?" She moaned.

 

Jack cried out again as the darkness set in but then his shout faltered, "wait…I think I touched something thin and smooth behind me...is it your leg?" Jack asked confused.

 

"How the heck could it be my leg!? I'm over here you perverted, stupid …"

 

"..Hey, hey…I'm not used to this okay, I leave all the lights on at night, even the ones in the Jack bots. Um, I think, it's some kind of lever, hold on…"

 

She heard an echoey clunk as Jack pushed down on the object clutched under his gloved hand. There was a sound like a rush of wind and one by one torches with unusually fuchsia -coloured flames burst into life and dimly lit up a never-ending, narrow corridor ahead of them. 

 

"Ta-dah, here's to Jack Spicer, Maestro of darkness!" Jack crowed striding up to Kimiko and she could now see him in full, much to her disappointment. His hair was a bit messy and there was a smudge of dirt on his neck, to top it off he wore a satisfied but somewhat relieved expression on his face. She had to muster so much strength not to slap it. Jack scanned around, and that relieved look drooped steadily.

 

"No fair! There's no other exit except that tunnel of sudden death." He pointed wildly at it. " I'd say we're trapped. The two of us. Alone. The Wu must be gloating by now but only I should win the last laugh,"  he frowned like a kid.

 

As if in response to Jack's statement, above them in the air there was a glowing sapphire light and white words began to materialize written in an elegant calligraphy:

 

**" _In wandering through this maze for two,_**

**_several tasks shall soon await you._ **

**_If your wits are sharp and hearts are true,_ **

**_undisclosed feelings will bloom anew._ **

**_Then after all that once were shades of blue,_ **

**_a destined exit will come into view."_ **

 

"Sharp wits…hearts are true…feelings…destined…?" Kimiko mumbled the words out loud, as pretty as the prose sounded it wasn't giving her any good vibes.

 

"Uh huh…and that... was completely normal… I think It's issuing a challenge- follow the path, beat a set of games, get out of jail free card- or maybe not so free" Jack breathed out a wary sigh at his own suggestion and began scratching at his forehead "Is it like a Showdown?"

 

Kimiko scowled, " A Showdown for a Shen Gong Wu that we can only use once outside that has to take place inside said Shen Gong Wu... ? Paradox much."

 

"It wants us to find the blooming feelings or whatever." He added flatly, "that's me being an evil optimist but I really, sort of, maybe don't think it'll be that simple," the clarity of his voice shrank with each word.

 

Jack seemed to have gotten the gist of some of it, but she wasn't going to give him the pleasure of bossing her around.

 

"You think!?" Kimiko replied snarkily and chewed on her cheek. As much as she loved games it was obvious that this Wu was made to mess with them and she wasn't about to be it's pawn.

 

"Don't take it out me..." he groaned out warily.

 

"No way- I'm not playing along with this thing's game. It's a Shen Gong Wu and not all Wu are tough like the Two Ton Tunic right?"

 

"Both right!" Jack affirmed, agreeing with her too enthusiastically for someone who'd just learned he was being held captive. She sighed. 

 

"And that's a stone wall." She pointed across from her.

 

"Mhm, so deductive!" Jack nodded slowly, tapping his chin. She gritted her teeth dangerously. 

 

"Don't bite me or anything! I'm just trying to follow where you're going with this." He defensively reasoned with her. 

 

"I'm saying that there's got to be some way to break out of here."

 

She stared at the wall behind her menacingly, mentally issuing it a challenge.

 

"Chills…" Jack shuddered mockingly. "Don't think it wants to give us a choice, I would try to fly around but I busted my helipack when I fell in." He gestured to the broken remnants of it on the ground behind him. He pouted for a moment as he stared regretfully at it. 

 

"Where there's a will there's a Judolette flip fire!" Kimiko cried and summer-salted in mid-air until a magnificent ball of fire encapsulated her. She tenaciously beat at a wall that sent sparks flying around the space. Jack took several long steps back.

 

"It's working I feel something I…" Kimiko beamed at the wall, her voice tremulous because of the spinning, then, without warning she was smack on the ground.

 

"You sure you weren't just feeling hungry? I dunno about you but since we got here I haven't been feeling hungry, thirsty or sleepy anymore or even needed to take a le..."

 

"Gahhh!" Kimiko yelled cutting Jack off, the fire from her attack suddenly vanished with a comical slurping noise. She looked up stunned.

 

  _How utterly embarrassing._

 

"Huh..? I'm confused. I get that the move is new correct? So does it sometimes just poof like that ?" Jack asked seeming somewhat troubled himself whilst flicking his hands open and closed to describe the action.

 

"Star Hanabi fire!" She shrieked ignoring him, she didn't even try to get up off the ground. The Star Hanabi sent a spiral of flames at the wall and Kimiko laughed, "You watch Spicer, this should burn a hole right through this bab…"

 

It didn't.

 

The fire ricocheted off the wall, Kimiko rolled out of it's way and it hurled itself towards Jack who ducked just in time before it burned his head off.

 

"EYY!…Oh... I get it, this is all your plan isn't it!? You're really looking to finish me off in here aren't you?" Jack glowered at her and desperately fumbled for his hair to feel if it was still there.

 

"That'd be nice- maybe you might actually be good at that. Ok I'll try again…" Kimiko huffed, standing up and dusting herself off.

 

"Star Hanabi fire!"

 

Nothing happened.

 

"STAH HAN-A-BEE FYAH!"

 

No luck.

 

"Lotus Twis…ter?" Her small voice trailed away.

 

Still nothing. They'd stopped working entirely. 

 

"Empty them!" She said suddenly rounding on Jack with a pointing finger. Jack froze with his arms in the air like he was being held at gun point. 

 

"I've got no money, I swear!" He answered quickly. 

 

"Not money idiot, Shen Gong Wu! I know you didn't come here empty handed." She glared at his coat. 

 

He forced out his side pockets. "There, just the Mantis flip coin, that's all I got." He looked shifty. He was so bad at lying. 

 

"Oh please," she said not buying it. " Last Showdown, we didn't win back all the Wu your dweeby robo-twin stole from us. I know you'll try to trap me from behind with a Wu while I'm not looking." She said. She knew his tricks, they all did, it was Jack after all. 

 

"We're already trapped in here as it is, why would I...?" He began, trying to sound innocent. 

 

"Your helipack carries things. Empty it." She commanded. 

 

"Whaat... it can't be opened, it's for _fly - ing_ " He said in a drawn out voice that sounded like he was suggesting she was dunce.  

 

"There's a zip." She glared at it.

 

"Damn." Jack rubbed at his forehead with a look of disappointment. 

 

Kimiko started to walk towards him. 

 

 

"Pfft that's just for style, plus it's broken already how dare you make me man-handle what's left of my precious.." he said hurriedly.

 

"Now." Her firm voice decorated a threatening fighting stance. 

 

"Fine." He glared back at her. He knew he couldn't win.  From the broken metal helipack he opened the small zip, turned the pack upside down and out fell the Shroud of Shadows and the Sun Chi Lantern- along with a pack of chips,  a toothbrush and a small lizard-man action figure. _How did they fit?_ She raised an eyebrow.  He then wrenched it open further to show her nothing else was inside. He didn't need to do that, she could tell by his crabby frown that that was all he had.  He glanced distractedly at the action figure on the floor and then at her, awkwardly.

 

"Ch-Chase...how did you get in there??" He stuffed it hastily into his coat pocket.

 

When she continued to glower at him he shrank and responded defensively, "Well, what do you expect? As a villain I'm supposed to want the upper-hand... how should I know that it won't be you killing me in this place!?" 

 

She motioned with a nudge of the head for him to try out one of the Wu. "Not the lantern Jack!" She growled as he picked it up. The Sun-Chi Lantern- a Wu that can steal another's energy/ abilities and temporarily transfer them to the wielder.

He sighed heavily and called on the powers of both the Mantis flip coin and the Shroud of Shadows instead in succession. Neither worked.

 

"Give them here, you might be saying it wrong!" She marched up towards him and stretched out a short arm.  

 

"Nuh uh, these ones are mine...you can't just steal them!" His long self tried to wriggle away from her.

 

"The heck... you stole them  from us!"  She pounced on him and he yelped. 

 

"How much more right can I say it?? Sun Chi Lantern! Sun Chi Lantern! Sun Chi Lantern!" He squawked out, dodged and leaped about the space holding it up high. He slowly stopped moving, his steam running out when it had no effect. 

 

"Nothing?" She sank to the floor. Not that she wasn't thankful that he couldn't use them on her either but this was ridiculous. " What's up with my powers and the Wu?" _This was bad_. Kimiko got up again, determined to try once more. 

 

"So er yeah…I don't think.." Jack began to say tentatively but Kimiko started punching at the side wall so rapidly that it looked like there was smoke wafting off her fists.

 

"Yeah that's not…"

 

"Shut iiiit!" she half cried, half growled as she continued to punch at the same spot. He closed his mouth tightly and then mumbled out the sides-

 

"No…seriously that's gonna sting ri-"

 

"URGH!" she deliberately drowned out his voice with a louder cry of concentration. But it was hatefully futile. She fell to the floor breathing heavily and wagging her pulsing fingers to ease the pain. Something about this Shen Gong Wu nullified every ability and attack.

 

After his initial shock at her tenacity, Jack paused for a moment and then slowly pranced up to her until he was standing at her side.

"Freaky Shen gong Wu -  **1** ,

Kimiko- oh-so-perfect dragon of fire-  **nil**.

Ha ha this is priceless." He laughed gloatingly. "What other sort of useless firey crap are you gonna throw at it now huh?"

 

He soon found himself in the air, flying face first his firey-red hair flapping in his face and then that face flat against the wall inside the Wu. Kimiko brushed her hands off…

"Fine that's the last of it, guess there's no choice.  I'll burn this Wu after to teach it a lesson, hear that Dashi? I'll also fry Jack too." She said as an afterthought, it made her feel much better. She began to walk down the lit pathway whilst Jack heaved himself off the floor scowling at her retreating back.

 

Until he realised she was leaving him behind.

 

"W-wait! So we're really going in blindly then...? Did I say I'd get the last laugh? Going down that kind of place means that my last laugh might just be me wheezing as I choke on my own blood."  His words echoed off the corridor walls and he jumped startled by the sound of them. 

 

She hoped her friends could find a solution from the outside because for the first time in a long while she was actually feeling terribly anxious about what was lying ahead. Not to mention-how in the world was she going to survive for any longer than now with Jack Spicer as her only company?

 _Undisclosed feelings_ popped into her brain _…_

 _Oh please, whatever that's supposed to mean anyway. The only thing I have feelings for in this room is my phone but even that's no good._ She thought and then Jack's footsteps behind her startled her _._

 

_Get it together Kimiko, you can't be freaking out for tiny pathetic sounds, but...I have no idea what to do. No. I've got to find a simple way out this…even if I have to work it  out alone... It isn't like I haven't been through worse-facing off against a one thousand five hundred year old Heylin witch who tried to throw the world into ten-thousand years of darkness for instance. That aside, seriously Labyrinth Lock, why with Jack Spicer?_

 

"So it's still pretty dark and creepy in here..should we hold hands? So that no one's, you know, separated... but I swear I'm not scared!"

 

" **HECK NO!** "

 

"Not even fingers?"

 

" **DIE SPICER!** "

 

"R-relax," he laughed nervously, " I was kidding…"

 

Something creaked loudly. 

 

"Maybe..." Jack coughed.


	3. Can't beat your maze

Even though the narrow pathway was now lit, the pink glow of archaic torch lights served less for illumination and more to accentuate an eerie atmosphere and  cast deformed shadows on the walls as they walked cautiously forward.

 _If this really is the start of some sort of task,_ Kimiko thought broodingly,  _then is it a test on how well I can walk with someone I'll definitely dislike forever down a path that seems to extend to forever? Is this actually a maze or just one long, frustrating tunnel?_

Each of her footsteps tapped out a soft, staccato rhythm as they warily stepped on the ground, but, they were echoed by a cacophony of heavier more shuffling stomps that resonated from the feet of a frightened Jack who tailed behind her, crouching almost directly up into her swaying elbows. Kimiko wished he wouldn't stand so close- the uncertainty of the place was unnerving enough without having Jack breathing down her neck.

She came to a sudden stop.

She was beyond annoyed.

The tip of Jack's nose bumped into her long, ebony black braid.

"Ouch..." he complained nasally.

Kimiko turned towards him ensuring to plaster her face with a look of loathing so he'd get the gist. However, Jack straightened up nonplussed,  rubbing a nose that had turned bright red.

"Why'd you stop walking, what's up ahead? I'm more than ready to bail if it comes down to it." Jack balled his hands into fists and nervously sucked in air through is mouth, then, he let a waft of it back out onto the top of her head. Kimiko shivered.  

Even though she just barely reached up to the center of his chest, she held out one menacing index finger and began to push him backwards forcefully. With each prod against his rib cage Jack took a step back, wincing.

"Look, would you not walk so close up on me like you plan to devour me…personal space is very good- for us I think a miles worth of it should work. Seriously, can't you at least pretend to be cool!?" Kimiko ordered, even without her fire abilities she could make flames dance in her eyes. Jack saw them clearly and seemed to hesitate with his response. 

"I am cool- glacier, and t-trust me.." he stammered " I get personal space, I'd date personal space but, for now, can't I just hook onto you a bit for safety reasons...?" He added the last part in a hurried, mouse-like voice and wriggled a flabby arm to lock with Kimiko's toned one.

 

Without sparing a second, like a pro wrestler, Kimiko expertly flipped Jack in the air and sent him crashing down on his back. He'd obviously forgotten that part of Xiaolin training included sparring and intense combat against the enemy. Right now, Jack was an enemy to all females. 

 

Almost immediately after he'd hit the floor an ominous rumbling noise grumbled in the distance. They froze, glanced at each other and then around for a sign of anything threatening. Jack screamed. 

 

 He stopped when the rumbling came to a halt and they stayed silently in place for a minute but, when nothing else seemed to happen, Kimiko menacingly rounded on Jack.

 

"Try that again I dare you!" She barked.

 

 _Oh Labyrinth Lock, please trap him somewhere behind along the way, I'll even trade my PDA…ok no maybe I wont,_ she pleaded.

 

"What? Scream?" He asked, lying on his back. " I can't control that-my self-defense mechanisms instantly act up in the presence of danger."

 

She walked up towards him cracking her knuckles. He flinched, mechanism activated, and spread out his arms and legs taking on the appearance of a starfish then gulped in a large portion of air, but she cut him off before he continued to burst her eardrums. 

 

 "No! I meant don't touch me!" She hissed and her eyes bore down fiercely into his, accentuating the intensity of her threat. If this kind of nonsense was going to continue all the way through her journey in the tunnel, she'd rather be stuck sitting down alone in the pitch black room they'd started in. 

 

He noisily swallowed the scream and sat up- massaging both his back and nose at the same time. He studied her expression for a moment and then his eyes glistened and a wide dopey smile spread across his face.

 

Kimiko cried painfully on the inside.

 

He came to back to his senses and shook his head.

 

"Yeaah no. If we weren't trapped alone in some sort of imminent, possibly perilous situation, I'd definitely tell you how attractive it could be when you get all fired up like that-but, alas we are...now quit bruising me." Jack sulked in both a scolding and childish manner.

 

Kimiko screamed murder on the inside.

 

"This coming from  the you who'd jump at a chance to hold me hostage if you had your Jack-bot groupies here as a shield?"  The more Jack spoke, the more her short fuse grew shorter and her  mind sizzled with judgement, fresh insults and at times confusion- Jack was a mesh of conflicting emotions that she could see ultimately unified as being self-serving. 

 

"They're minions, not groupies- get that straight and I'm the bad-guy archetype, that's in the job description." He explained pointedly.  " ** **You're****  supposed to do good, boring things." He jumped to his feet and his crooked smile slowly morphed into a disgruntled line, "What I'm trying to say is, pitting yourself against me in a place like this is less good and more stupid and annoying. Ha!" He finished like he'd just won a kindergarten debate. 

 

Jack was possibly upset but she couldn't always tell as his voice got pathetically higher whenever he was worked up about anything. In fact, she didn't think she'd ever seen him truly angry- just whiny, screamy, defensive and gloating- so she wasn't exactly sure what this was- maybe a combination of all four. 

_I'll show him a real angry voice_ , she goaded herself on.

 

"Annoying? " She laughed incredulously, " ** **I'm****  the one who's annoying? You behaving like such a useless crying toddler is what's annoying- you JERK!" Dramatically the height of her shadow appeared to tower above his as she went in for a second round. Jack's shadow shrunk to the size of a worm's but his physical body rebelled or perhaps was merely frozen in place as it appeared to hold it's ground and he stood tall without running to hide. Kimiko felt she'd struck some sort of nerve because he shockingly resembled how a normal human being might when they were ticked off.

 

"Useless…? An evil, dashing, man-not-boy- genius like myself is far from useless- that's you with your girly braid and lame outfit and your: "look at me I'm so brave, I'm so perfect," he spoke in a squeaky voice that was supposedly an imitation of Kimiko's, the sound echoed discordantly around them. She was ready to knock him down again.

"I'm so STRONG," his voice deepened to that of a gruff sounding man, "attitude," he finished. 

 

_Ooh it's throwdown time Spicer!_

 

He topped off his weak rant with his voice returning to a pout,

 

"I really hate this place…it's so dark. " 

 

Kimiko laughed grandly, probably too grandly seeing as she should expect this level of harassment from Jack but still her temper was flaring and temperature rising,

 

"You're Evil? You're "dashing"? The wind is too loud in here Jack because I'm sure you meant to say wannabe evil and a creep!"

 

Jack's eye started to twitch. She knew he'd heard those phrases so many times before but she guessed coupled with being trapped in here with just her it had a greater impact. He pressed his tongue hard against the front of his teeth and glared. Her taunting was working so she continued, this war had just begun- he'd started it anyway. 

 

"Do you even know what evil means? I'm serious when I say you should just quit- do something different with your life because you're better suited at gardening or at a daycare cent-" Her temper suddenly dropped back to normal and Jack also stopped scowling. Kimiko realised something-

 

_Huh…Wind? Wait there's wind.._

"Er, wait why is there wind?"

 

Kimiko thought and Jack simultaneously voiced aloud.

 

"No no, that can't be good…" Jack groaned.

 

They were so caught up in arguing that they'd forgotten that their current common enemy was the Labyrinth Lock Shen Gong Wu- with it's craggy grey stone walls surrounding them. Confining them.  Feeling neglected it sought to remind them unabashed with the sound of a heavy rushing wind similar to when Jack pulled the lever to set the torches alight, but, this time the opposite happened and all  lights- even the ones in Kimiko's defiant eyes went out.

 

" ** **DON'T-**** "

 

Jack breathed heavily.

 

" ** **YOU DARE SCREAM!**** " Kimiko commanded in the darkness. Jack could be heard exhaling slowly.

 

The ground beneath them began to violently shake and was followed by a series of disturbing ripping and crunching noises. The entire pathway pulsated without warning and Kimiko was heaved to the left, whilst Jack flopped to the right. The impact of the fall winded her and she felt a stabbing pain at her back. The tunnel was still undulating as the torches flickered back to life- their flames now a vivid sapphire.

The entire area had split into two diverging stone corridors. In front of the other pathway was Jack. He'd managed to regain his footing, was studying the changing motion of the ground near Kimiko carefully and suddenly timed it, dashed towards her and snatched the knapsack off her back where it had hung loosely after her fall.

Having not fully recovered yet, Kimiko angrily tried to grab it back but she was further tossed ungracefully onto her face. Jack wobbled for a moment but in his hasty determination to steal he managed to steady himself.

 

"Oh yeah…I'll show you evil… later sucker!" He turned and cackled swinging her knapsack over his right shoulder whilst the broken helipack dangled from his left. It was more than ridiculous. He turned back around just to stick his tongue out at her and whoop: 

 

"I wiiin!"

 

He sprinted down the second, stable path along with the Shen Gong Wu and her personal items- she always carried around a photo of her mom too. 

 

"JACK!" she yelled furious and at that moment the tremors helpfully stopped- she willed herself to her feet and was just about to start chasing after him when a distant yelping crescendoed it's way back up the second corridor. Jack re-emerged and stood still panting, hands on his thighs.

 

"Ok- so I checked," he lied  "and- I don't think -that's the right path to take-" he kept breathing heavily. "There were really loud sounds- basically no torches," he continued passionately indignant, "and the walls did this sort of wriggling thing." He moved his arms to describe the motion and then coughed into his fist and stood up pretending to seem unabashed and perfectly under control.

 

He didn't meet her murderous gaze but pulled off her knapsack, held it out on his arm and then dangled it with feigned indifference off the end of three fingers for her to take back.

 

She wrenched it from him.

 

He rubbed a finger under his nose and added, "It's actually, er pretty heavy… See, that was  Lesson number one for you Kimiko Toho, there's more than one way to do "true evil. " Lesson number two- drum roll please-" he murmured, "affirms that forming evil alliances to reach the same goal can benefit both parties. As much as I hate the idea," he held out a hand, " somewhere in my evil heart I think I can make a space for…"

 

Kimiko kicked him hard in the shin and he bounced around like a grasshopper on one leg.

 

" ** **No way in hell.**** "

 

"Here I thought we were already there…" Jack managed to make light of things even as he wheezed .

 

Kimiko sighed exasperatedly.

"Weren't you just preaching about not facing off with each other whilst we're in here?" She growled. Jack winced once more and hopped a safe distance away from her before speaking again. 

 

"What I did when I stole your bag was to give you an example, of sorts, of what could happen if you don't stop nagging at me while I'm completely defensele -" he was trying to roll along with his lies when she stopped him with an angry order,

"-Spicer you go on and head right back down that path before I fly kick you in there!" 

 

There was silence in the tunnel for a moment and then,

 

"Spaaare me!" He cried, grovelling on his knees, hands clasped in a praying gesture. 

 

Then, as if on cue the second pathway vanished and they were standing before only one again.

 

He stood back up suddenly casual. "Um, weird… and not very subtle, but I guess it gets it? Maaybe it can hear us?"  He glanced around nervously.  "So then.. how about that evil team work? I bet I'm better at team work than you" Jack taunted- he couldnt help himself-  forced out a grin, offered his hand once more and shrugged.

 

"Don't give me that usual crap, you'll try something else if you had the chance- because you're oh so evil." Kimiko scowled and walked on leaving his hand hanging. Jack flexed his fingers and frowned.

"You don't care about anything else and just want to save your squirmy little self isn't that right?" She asked. 

 

"At least crap is my specialty!" He said it so unaware of how bad it came out that it was painful. "I honestly don't see what's wrong with that. Gotta look out for evil number one." He responded whilst cringing from the glare she was giving him. 

 

"What's the deal with this stupid place!?" She manically burst out afterwards and kicked hatefully at the wall.

 

"Wait don't kick it you might make it angry…" Jack said in a hushed voice.

 

They continued on quietly to Kimiko's joy- the scenery of the place barely changed save for a few potholes and jutting stones.  Time passed and as if cooperating the Labyrinth Lock too was silent. There seemed to be no evidence around of destruction after the mayhem from before- the Wu cleaned up. If it could easily cover it's tracks,  Kimiko thought, then it could also have them walking for hours without change- it felt like it had been over an hour already since they entered it.  There was one alteration that was evident however, and it was the fact that tunnel was growing darker and narrower. Just a while ago she and Jack had had enough space to walk a good distance apart-side by side- but now they found that the space was becoming so tight that they had to shimmy almost facing each other with their back against the wall- Jack didn't seem to want to stay behind her any longer.

 

 _This is officially labeled the worst Shen Gong Wu in history- it's forcing Jack in my line of vision. His tall hair really makes his head look abnormally large and whenever he passes the torch light on my side, its shadow resembles a pineapple_ . Kimiko amused herself with the thought- it was better than going crazy from apprehension or even boredom.

 

"Nn..." Jack groaned and started to breathe rapidly in and out through his mouth.   _Oh god no the pineapple speaks._  

 

Kimiko tried to ignore it but then the speed of his patterned breathing, which sounded like a woman in labour, started to increase.

 

"What's you're problem this time?" she sighed. They continued to shimmy, the only other sounds besides his came from the shuffling of their feet and clothes rubbing against stone. 

 

"Claustrophobia is the problem,"  Jack said poking at his cheek and chewing on his lip as if he was trying to make sure he was still alive. "Can we stop for a second? I need to get a tiny little grasp of reality." He said breathy. 

 

"You can stop all you like- better for me- I'll just hold onto the large portion of what's ahead and keep going." 

 

"Sure whatever..." he turned around and pressed his head against the wall, almost hugging it, he was clearly distressed but it was Jack so she continued to move on.

 

"No wait, you can't leave me!" he called out in dismay. 

 

"Can't I...? " She responded drily. 

 

" I dunno if you noticed earlier but I'm not a big fan of being alone in nightmarish dark places." He moaned and lifted his head to address her.  

_"_ I'm not a big fan of staying with you...but sometimes life sucks. _"_ she commented icily. 

 

He scowled loudly at her and then clenched at his nose bridge.  Kimiko blew up at her face, disgruntled. _Do I have to?_

"Don't you practically live in your parents' basement? And here I thought "evil" thrived in the darkness." Kimiko remarked mockingly but, she did stop walking on.

 

"Yeah- but that's like a medium shade of darkness and it's a subterranean apartment- you're not as smart as I thought you were, are you Kimiko?" He added, his voice croaky and breaths sharp. Triggered she started to move again, at a faster pace.  He dragged along behind her like toilet paper stuck to a shoe. 

_He's all bold now, but making no sense, the panic seems to be getting to his already warped  brain._ She thought.

 

"It's different in here. We're trapped, I don't have any distractions- no tools to make lights, no Jack bots to protect me- I mean-  to break a way out of here…and you, you're no fun - just constantly angry." She walked up a little faster- he tailed her faster. " Besides the fact that anything could try to jump us- " he continued undeterred,

"I hate when I can't see things and that there might be something else that can, it makes me feel pathetic." He rambled on and his breathing sped up once more. Something about what he said sounded like it went beyond just a fear of the dark. However, Kimiko wasn't going to care.

 

"More pathetic." She corrected. " Now here's a lesson for you from me," she continued in a soft and gentle voice that seemed to catch Jack off guard .They were moving but now Jack was staring at her and not studying where he was going. Kimiko was determined to continue to focus away from him.

 

"You wanted to win so badly before and were so brave in the darkness when you tried to take my stuff and leave me behind,"

 

Jack blinked and stopped walking. With the amount of talking and slowing down they were doing they weren't going to get anywhere- if they were getting somewhere in the first place, but she couldn't stop herself this time from glancing back a little. The way he was looking at her seemed like he was hoping to hear something specific. She wondered what that was, but very briefly and then kept going with her point "but, now it's my turn to win…and how will I do that?"

 

Jack stared at her with the eyes of a wide-eyed lemur. She could see the question marks forming around his head.  _He walks so easily into traps._

 

" ** **IF YOU STAY RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE AND LEAVE ME ALONE!**** " She shouted her head swelling. 

 

Jack frowned. "Wow you're so petty." He rolled his eyes and clicked his tongue, he seemed to have gotten over his feelings of claustrophobia- at least her short distraction had been useful. Unfortunately he now sidled up towards her like a crab.

 

" ** **YOU'RE FACE IS PETTY!**** " she yelled back in an attempt to get him to keep his distance. It only worked for a second. 

 

Kimiko determinedly tried to pretend Jack didn't exist.

 

"No- you're face is petty…" he said mockingly and screwed up his own face, placing is his hands on his hips and swaying from side to side as much as he could in the small space, whilst still trying to match her speed.

 

She could pretend no longer. For the thousandth time she stopped, distracted and he skidded to a stop.

 

They faced other. Kimiko fixed him with a deadly glint in her eyes and Jack plastered his back to the wall, whimpering in a small voice: 

 

"Don't kill me…"

 

_Where did all that backbone go eh?_

 

"URGH! Why of all the enemies in the world did it have to be you I'm stuck here with!?" She finally voiced her innermost grievance out loud.

 

"So would you rather someone like Wuya?" He asked with a derisive snort, but his curious gaze revealed that he was genuinely interested in the answer.

 

"Actually…No you're right- you're the best Jack."

 

"I am?"  Jack's disbelief was apparent- probably at the fact that she was agreeing with him. "Uh huh, that's right, I so am!" he crowed. 

 

_Baited. But he totally deserves it._

 

"If it had been Wuya," Kimiko smiled impishly, "I wouldn't have been able to chuck her at the wall earlier. Plus I think you're the easiest to deal with, evil-wise."

 

Jack peeled himself off the wall, his hands dropped to his sides and he leaned in towards her like a kid ready to throw a tantrum-

 

"Look-" his voice was slightly high- _Yep he's upset._

 

"You think I like being stuck here with you too? You're impulsive little head might really, definitely get us killed unlike the prowess of an evil tactician like myself," he puffed out his chest proudly.

 

"As if…like you've  ** **proven****   to be of any use!?"

 

"Y-you know," Jack's eyes tore into hers and she stared back unblinkingly.

 

_Bring it on Spicer._

 

"I haven't yet...but that's not the point, I'm warming myself up!" he retaliated lamely. Then he frowned at her and continued, "I know I said before that I found that attitude of yours attractive, but meh- I honestly don't think there's any way of us getting along and we'll probably end up stuck in here for an... eternity…" he faltered at the word and groaned.

 

Kimiko heard a distant grumble that reminded her of thunder rising from the dark abyss ahead. 

 

"Another thing," he began to say matter-of-factly,  "if you'd just admitted defeat and let me grab the Lock in the first place this would never have-" 

 

Kimiko quickly clapped her palm over Jack's mouth to keep him silent so that she could hear properly. D _on't tell me the place is about to quake again?  But this time it sounds different- was something coming?_   She worried, she didn't know what to expect in here.

 

There was another rumble, faint but moving closer. 

 

"You heard that?" She asked.

 

"Haar waah..?" Jack started to respond.

 

" ** **EWW!****  Don't open your mouth while my hand is there." She pulled away and shook her hand off like it had been electrocuted.

 

"You're the one who put it there and then asked a question, are you always this contradictory woman?" Jack retorted.

 

"Gross, gross, puke…it's like you were making oout with ii-it! " Kimiko almost cried the last few words, she couldn't get over the shock and had forgotten about the sound. Jack making out with her, the thought was disgusting!

 

"Gross?" Jack raised an eyebrow "Whatever… Me, evil boy genius Jack Spicer make out with the flimsy hand of a girl who's been so near the forces of good…It's so outrageous it's laughable…Even I'm not that lame," he spat. "In the future you'll feel so honored to have been almost kissed  by the sacred lips of this world conqueror!" 

 

"Flimsy!?" Kimiko shuddered, stuck on that one word,  "That's it, I'll give you something to make out with Spicer." She threatened, raising her fist.

 

"Go for it!" He said wagging his lips out in a taunting kiss, but he had angled himself back on the wall and had his arms against his body in an "x" shape as defense.

 

The once distant grumbling became a great echoing roar like that of a plane engine and Kimiko and Jack seized up. They had a few seconds to stare blankly at each other before the ground below lurched and dragged them forward, the floor now a conveyor belt. Like Jack and Jill the two ungainly tumbled down one after the other onto their behinds.

 

Kimiko yelled out when they started to pick up speed and were whisked away into the unknown. The swooping motion mercilessly tossed them from left to right causing them to occasionally fall all over each other. Kimiko's elbow caught Jack in the chin and Jack's knee nearly gutted her.  What a come down for the fearless warrior girl and the great world conqueror.  The Wu asserted dominance.

 

Kimiko made many attempts to stand so that she could ride it out like a surfer on a surfboard but it was no good. Jack yelped each time he was tossed about which was almost every five seconds- he too had tried to stand up once but Kimiko knew that his legs and balance were already so much like Jell-o that it would be futile. Then, they stopped tumbling, the movement slowed but instead the narrow path they sat on began to expand. The one route multiplied into four separate routes which further branched into ten and then fifty- interlocking and meandering around each other. Kimiko and Jack stopped trying to shuffle off of it and just sat there in awe of what was going on. Both were terrified (although neither would admit it- save for Jack's incessant screaming) of the shear magnitude and other worldly-ness of what was happening.They were being carried along through the center of it all where several hundred, as far as Kimiko could tell, new stone walls had branched out and continued to surrounded them. It was like the transformation for a Xiaolin Showdown but more spectacular.

 _If that's even possible,_  Kimiko thought stunned.

Then it all ended; the moving and the multiplying.

 

Jack had to roll closer to Kimiko when tall, teal stone slabs fell from an eternally vast space above and mapped a rectangle around them with a surprising tinkling noise rather than the loud crunch that Kimiko would've expected. They were once again enclosed by walls in which so far they couldn't see any other routes save for one "L" shaped path ahead.

 

She wasn't really one to look too soon on the bright side of a dark situation but she could say that fortunately this time the whole room was larger and well lit by some unseen light. It truly was a Labyrinth and they were probably at it's center, Kimiko reasoned.

 

"G-great- so now it r-really is a maze…" Jack said despairingly.

 

"It's like it's giving us no choice but to work our way through it. The walls are too smooth to climb and too high to jump" Kimiko pointed out surprised and annoyed.  _This Wu really wants to pick fights._

"If my Jack bots were here I'd make them teach this place not to mess with Jack Spicer!" Jack cried out for the maze to hear and tried to raise his hand to shake a threatening fist. 

 

That's when they both noticed something.

 

They turned apprehensively towards each other and then peered quickly at their hands. Jack had somewhere along the way placed his hand on top of hers- his clammy fingers interlinked tightly with her own. She had also, without realising it, gripped his fingers firmly in return until both of their knuckles were much paler than their skin. Kimiko wrenched her hand out from under Jack's so wildly that it caused his hand to slap onto the floor with a hollow "splat."

 

"What do you keep trying to do to my hand, you mega creep!?" She stood up and asked outraged.

 

Jack's face contorted into a sneering one- "It takes two to hold hands," he retorted and wiggled his body tauntingly. He wiped the sweaty palm that had been holding hers on his black trench coat and then stormed off in a huff down the first path of the maze. So he was still upset from before- well that was totally fine because so was she. Kimiko began to dart forward, her arms swaying angrily at her sides. Through the teal maze they'd go.

 

 Marching her way through, although annoyed, her judgement wasn't fully clouded and Kimiko still was able to catch the fact that the paths so far were set- no branching off- no junctions. Which was strange. It'd be a very easy escape if things continued this way.  As she was faster than Jack she easily passed him and took another right turn. She heard a series of high-pitched intakes of breath coming up behind her and gawked as Jack power-walked past on his heels with his elbows far out at his sides and his butt cheeks clenched, he took the only available left turn.She scoffed, it was so juvenile. If they hadn't been stuck in this situation she might have actually found Jack's antics hilarious. She wished she had her phone working to record it all for the boys, if-no when she got back to the temple, so they could get get a good laugh out of it too. 

 

She sped up past him again- taking the next left. Not too long after she had, a black and red blur almost knocked her down- it was Jack zipping around another bend in the maze. Kimiko was ready, and with a snarl began to run after him. She didn't know how many turns she took but as soon as she caught up to him, which was an easy feat, he stuck out his leg to trip her up. Just because she had no fire powers and Shen Gong Wu he was suddenly so quick to launching unguarded attacks. Luckily, her reflexes were fast and she blocked the attack with her own leg. Their two legs collided at the foot and they fell to the ground.

Unluckily for Jack, the force of Kimiko's kick was much more powerful than his and he was sent hurtling into yet another wall- upon impact there was a cracking sound.

 

"WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM, THIS ISN'T A SHOWDOWN!?" Kimiko wailed. But he was as tenacious as she was. She'd give him that.

 

"Yeah… well stop calling me a creep." He scowled and rubbed at the back of his head.

 

"You've never made this much of an issue with that before ya creep, creep, creep!" She snapped.

 

"Flimsy, flimsy, flimsy gir-waah!" he provoked her and then shrieked but masterfully twisted on the floor out of the way as she took a swipe at him. He had perfected the art of fleeing so it was no surprise he'd gotten better at dodging. Kimiko couldn't be bothered anymore and brushed off her hands. 

 

"I am soo lucky that this is a maze right now." She beamed- which effectively contrasted with her cutting tone of voice. 

 

"Uh huh…and why's that?" A wary Jack asked sardonically.

 

"Mazes split paths at some point, so I can go one way and you can get lost through the other. A win for both of us."  Kimiko answered keeping up the mock cheerful tone.

 

Jack opened his arms out splendidly,"Fine by me! There's plenty of light and breathing room now so I'm all good…" the wall behind him suddenly shattered. He screamed and leaped into the air.

 

Kimiko stared behind him in shock.

 

"It...broke?"

 

"I thought these things were made of something a bit more..."

 

"Sturdy." Kimiko finished.

 

"Ha or maybe my head is denser than you think!" Jack laughed boastfully.

 

 _He's so proud of himself for something so utterly stupid._  Kimiko rolled her eyes but in mid roll a powerful light reflected off her irises and she shielded them. Jack turned around and there behind him where the wall had just collapsed was a doorway that oozed a welcoming glow and screamed "Exit."

 

"No way! Is that the way out of here already?" Kimiko beamed in disbelief but was completely relieved.

 

"Heck, I'm not complaining!" Jack said happily and started striding towards it.

 

Kimiko stuck out an arm that caught him in the stomach and winded him. "Hold on, you better let me go through first because you'd just be…"

 

Jack's triumphant smile vanished and he glared at her, his lip trembled slightly and his expression reflected an emotion that was somewhere between frustration and being whiny,

 

"Because I'd just be what? Useless?"

 

"No-o." because of his tone of voice she turned away from the exit door and faced him and said slowly and deliberately,

"Because you'd probably get killed or just be screaming and shouting if something other than an exit shows up past that door" She gestured to it without looking " …oh… and then after that you'll be useless…" She added because he'd asked for it. Jack's face turned a bright red and he started to open his mouth, just as he did the floor beneath them spun around. They wobbled and tried to keep their balance. Then, without warning, a long stone wall slid quickly towards Kimiko. Reflexively she chopped at it flat handed.

_What the hell was thaaat?_

 

The wall shattered. It stupefied her. 

 

Jack looked over her shoulder at the broken wall nonplussed .

 

"Hmm...I guess they're really breakable...non-sturdy…stone walls?" She suggested just as confused as he appeared. Jack shrugged. Kimiko suddenly grinned.

 

"Well breaking things I can totally do, this'll make maze life so much easier if another wall decides to pop up! I hope that exit way isn't just some ruse," she added cautiously.

 

"Won't know 'til we try. Jack bots- daddy's coming back home!" Jack cheered. "Lead the way baby! " He added to her all of a sudden very enthused by the idea. They turned in unison to start walking towards the shining doorway.

 

"The exit- " Kimiko mumbled.

 

"-iiis gone.." Jack finished.

 

It had completely vanished.

 

"Maybe it was a hologram…?" Jack offered weakly.

 

"THIS IS YOUR FAULT!" She spat at him.

 

"How is it my fault? Plus you weren't even sure if it was an exit, maybe you hurt it's feelings. " he whined his pitch increasing.

 

"Are you kidding me? You were the one who distracted me in the first place and  made our only chance of leaving  here disappear!" Kimiko began to smash angrily at walls to create a straight path ahead of them through the maze which had rearranged itself, leaving them with no way of knowing which direction that exit door could have been before.

 

"Kimiko, Kimiko, it's thinking like that..." he began, "My advice- see everything as an art form- where this Wu created one exit, we can create another another to shake it up. " He finished teachingly  whilst shaking his head at her in a disapproving manner. 

 

 Kimiko heard the rough scraping of what sounded like yet another wall closing in on them, she shoved Jack's words aside and held up a steady arm, breaking it with a back fist. Where were these walls coming from? None of the maze walls appeared to be missing? The Shen Gong Wu was making them materialize just for the sheer pleasure of giving them trouble. She grumbled on the inside. Jack screeched and placed his arms in front of his face but when she shattered the wall he peered through his fingers at her momentarily impressed.They'd just entered the maze but Kimiko had had enough of it already and as expected, Jack's contributions were of no real help. 

 

"I don't need any advice from you of all people!"

 

Before she came to the Xiaolin temple she was privileged - she'd realised that. After living there and training with others who had similar to worse issues than her own and on being made aware of the shrouded dangers that faced the world, she was steadily learning to heed the instructions of the wise and take the back seat . However, like an allergic reaction she hated when it seemed like a person was trying to rub things they figured she didn't know in her face- she researched all the time and it wasn't like she didn't feel that there were so many things she had yet to learn. However, her mind automatically pinpointed it down to the person scolding her on a lack of ability. Jack's "advice" was a weak example of those instances, but hearing him say trigger words dug at her feelings of shame and guilt, made raw her flaws  and reminded her of a time when she had been too reckless, too defenseless, too weak. She'd bury the voice inside that said she needed to prove to herself that she could live up to  various expectations and then patch it over with outside anger.

Leaving herself open to dwell on those feelings, on what could've been done differently in past days was what she didn't want. It was funny, but what Jack had said earlier in the tunnel about the need to distract himself, really hit home. It would probably be one of the only thoughts they'd ever have in common. In here, she had to keep being strong and ready for everything ahead right?There were still things left to do, Wu to find, people to help on the outside. She couldn't and wouldn't be trapped here forever or just sit back and rely on Jack, if she did that they could both get seriously hurt by who knows what was lying in wait.  By those standards she was pretty much working alone.   

 

 _Just ignore it, stay calm, don't get angry again- grr it's so damn hot in here, it's been hours and Jack is- well he's being Jack. No. keep on track, there's no room for mistakes and no time to lose it._ She battled with herself. _The boys and Dojo must be worried, I wish there was some way to signal them that I'm okay- for now. I know they're also looking for a way to get us out- It's just, how long they are they  planning to take..!?_

 

Just then Jack found his voice again, "So I have to pay attention to lectures and life lessons from you but you wont take mine on?"  Jack said incredulously. 

Kimiko blinked at him taken aback by what he'd decided to say and she lost her ability to keep calm. "That's...not what I'm doing! How is taking advice from Mister I'll give you lessons in evil 101 going to work for me or us in here!?"  _This idiot._

 

"Don't shoot me, I'm just saying...you tell me to stop causing problems- which is what I was born to do, so I'll give you advice on why I shouldn't stop- a man's got to defend his goals." Jack reasoned seeming justified with his response. But he was missing her point. Kimiko could have reacted simply, reasoned steadily like she'd resolved to, disinterestedly but she wasn't feeling for reasoning anymore. The maze prompted her to be anything but aloof- the atmosphere was a disastrous mesh of swirling, sweltering heat and a looming heavy tension intensified by a combination of sensitive subject matter and their current situation.

It was normal for them to make wise cracks at each other when entering into a fight and, otherwise she'd trained herself not to let him get to her, but, ever since they entered the tunnel and now the maze their tolerance of each other was being meticulously tested. 

 

She snapped at him, "Just how backwards is your thinking Jack? Don't you try to turn it around, you live for ruling the world- or so you claim- so why should I listen to someone who's true intention is to bring down others just to help himself!?" 

 

 "Ah, the ruling part is very true," He flashed her a mock apologetic smile. "But still, y-you can't just try to guess me and why I'm giving advice." He faltered but continued to trail beside her through the paths she paved.

They should be working the maze- Navigating through bends or Kimiko punching down walls but it was a tedious task. With each new argument they started to meet with blind alleys and dead ends.

 

Stopping in front of a particularly thick, looking set of walls, she scowled, turned to Jack and waved a hand in front of his face."Hello?"  Have I been hearing from a different guy for the past year? Are you the clone version? I don't have to guess," she emphasized, "you have a talent for making it obvious who's side you're really on and that's team ** **Egomaniacal Jack****.  They backtracked. 

 

"Egomaniacal... er that's a big new word for me but "Egomanaical Jack," he said spreading his hands out ahead of him to suggest it was a headliner, "has a sweet ring to it. Can I borrow it? You haven't trademarked it yet right...?" He asked eagerly. 

 

" WHY am I even talking to you?" She groaned. They came to a fork in the maze, the Wu was following maze format all of a sudden- she took the right, she couldn't smash at every wall- it hurt. 

 

"I read in Psychology for dummies," he began to reply mechanically, " when forced into a state of isolation there is a heightened need for human social interaction- I'm just regurgitating here," he continued by reminiscing-  "Though I get asked your question a lot from all sorts of people in everyday situations, that is, whenever I find them worthy enough to talk to, " He suddenly smirked at her and chuckled superiorly, " I'm just that popular!" 

 

Kimiko's brain instantly shriveled up. It was void of a remark that could be deflating enough to best his own. They looked at each other for a second- Kimiko raised an eyebrow and Jack frowned- finally realizing that his proud reaction didn't quite gel with what he'd said (she noticed he did that a lot), then he scowled- now possibly scheming against the world. As if trying to evade any further comments he started to lead the way through the turns in the maze, she just let him get on with his tantrum. 

 

The moment didn't last too long. "Whatever, my attempts will eventually result in your defeat and my popularity when I take over. Then you''ll learn to respect me." He recovered, pleased with himself.

 

 " That could be the case if you didn't always try and always fail- maybe you're just trying at the wrong things." She added with a grin. Bating Jack was so satisfying. Around another bend. But no progress. 

 

_We're not going backwards are we? Which way is actually backwards?_

 

"Heh, well at least I'm intelligent enough to try knowing that I'll always fail." He crowed. "Wait, that, now that wasn't what I meant..." he said trying to convince her, she cleared her throat and hummed, "really it wasn't, I'm a winner!"  He added hastily. 

 

_You mean a whiner. Heheh, or a wiener._

 

"I, think you should stop now Jack," she said frankly and without laughing, he'd insulted himself enough already. They came to another dead end in the maze. Only Jack Spicer could cause her emotions to flicker from from volcanic to arctic after listening to only one sentence. She really wished he'd stop speaking because she knew how she could get when she was worked up and she didn't want to accidentally open up anything about herself to him. 

 

Chagrined, Jack suddenly began to stomp about at her side doing a pretty good job of dodging the small chunks of wall that flew at his face as she demolished it. As per her mental request he was quiet for a long while as they navigated their way through the maze. Kimiko's teeth set on edge with each stone blockade and failed turn. The more she heard the crash of another breaking wall and the crunch of  it's remnants underfoot, the more annoyed she became until she was so annoyed that she came to realise that they were the only sounds she was hearing in the maze.  Jack was being too silent. She sighed loudly at her sudden curiosity, "You're up to something aren't-" she whirled around to meet his gaze focused on her,

 

"What?" She asked brusquely. 

 

"That's why I don't like you regular people." He responded and his lips tensed together in a tight circle that he shifted to the left side of his face.   

 

"Regular...people?" She repeated slowly  "Is that what you've been trying to come up with all this time?" 

 

"It- this here is pure spontaneousness! He said in his defense. "Regular people, like, with normal ways of thinking- " 

 

 Kimiko was more confused...was that an insult or a compliment-? His tone made it seem like he was trying to dis her but the content... either way it ticked her off.

 

Jack continued animatedly, "your Xiaolin loser groupies- acting all high and mighty and saying: "you'll always lose Spicer," "Ha useless Jack," he mimicked what sounded like Wuya's voice, "Why don't you get a job since you dropped out of school to play with toys…" Jack continued in a deep voice- "yeah you wait dad, those toys will rule you and the world one day." He switched back to his usual inflections, "sometimes I can't stand you too" he glowered at the side of her face and when she returned the glower to him his breath caught in his throat and he coughed nervously.

 

Another wrong turn. "Oh yeah... then stop trying to come onto me so pervy all the time!" She growled back and kicked out with such a force that three walls ahead broke at once. She marched straight through the new path. This maze was eternal! She wanted to get out already and Jack wasn't even attempting to help- just following behind her and coming up with stupid remarks. What was that about his dad anyway? 

 

"Har Har Har…Don't kid yourself sister, I'm a guy who digs girls in general but I don't form attachments."

 

"Bet the only girls who dig you back are robots." She said under her breath. 

 

"Maybe, don't get jealous. What I'm saying is it doesn't go any deeper than that, trust me there's no space in my black little heart for love or the likes of you!" He said out of annoyance. She cracked. 

 

"Jealous? The likes of...? I DIDN'T SAY ANYTHING ABOUT WANTING TO BE IN YOUR HEART!  YOU'RE A BAD GUY AND I ACTUALLY, BELIEVE IT OR NOT, DON'T LIKE YOU!" Kimiko yelled at the top of her voice and they halted at another junction. Of all the things he'd said-that infuriated her the most because the idea was just so yuck and wrong! Well it shouldn't have gotten to her as much as it did but for some reason she was extra angry in this Wu. 

 

"You don't have to shout that confidently about it…" Jack said as he shrank backwards pouting.

 

The ground suddenly shifted more violently than the first time- that hadn't happened for a while- and the path that she had been breaking through magically reformed, spun a curve around them and then generously split into six new paths as the floor tremored.  

 

Kimiko hung her arms limply at her sides and Jack's mouth fell open.

 

Kimiko gave him a cutting side glance.

 

"H-hey now that one really wasn't my fault. You exploded and boom- it multiplied." He pointed out plainly and then grimaced at her cautiously. 

 

Kimiko angrily let out something like a war cry and starting hacking and punching wildly at the walls straight ahead of her, breaking them rapidly until she grew too wary of it. Jack stared at her for the entire time with wide eyes. The walls re-materialized and she slumped to the floor feeling defeated.

 

"Yah… I think you should stop- your hand it's bleeding." He motioned towards her left hand and to her surprise his expression appeared to be distressed. The ground stopped it's shaking.

 

 _Gahh bleeding!?_ There was a gash across each of her knuckles. She blew on them. "D-don't pretend to be concerned, just stop your whining and HELP. ME. OUT. Oh wait, you've got zero strength." Her now stinging hand was adding to her previous frustrations. 

 

"Oh yeah well my brain is stronger than yours and I wasn't whining!" he said in a very whiny voice, "They're evil rants." He explained.

 

"WHY do you always need to put "evil" in front of everything? Are you trying to seem more convincing?" She stood up, now her head was pounding. How she wished she had her fire back. The maze grew around them and the floor vibrated but Kimiko was suddenly so fed up she'd started to ignore it.

 

"N-no, it isn't that..." he said uncomfortably, "Evil lair, Evil genius, Evil world peace-" he said in a tone that suggested that his reasons should be obvious, "it just makes things sound more deliciously evil, that's what evil people do. Evil clowns…okay that one's redundant."

 

"Whoa-ho, we might actually agree on that last bit, but I'd agree with you more if you SHUT UP!" Kimiko retorted. The whole journey had taken it's toll and they'd been on longer journeys before- but this place was one fat, trying, concoction. She'd noticed that the maze kept expanding, her temper wouldn't stop flaring and this was probably only one of the tasks the Wu mentioned. Her body ached all over but as Jack had said earlier she didn't actually feel sleepy, or thirsty or any of the basic necessities. It was probably some other hidden ability of the stupid Labyrinth Lock.

 

Jack blinked rapidly and spewed his next words out,

 

"Nuh uh, I'm gonna evil rant all up in this place.. if it wont do any good!" She'd noticed before when she wasn't so angry that he'd been massaging at his neck for a while- he'd been feeling the effects of the maze too. Another portion of their repetitive surroundings expanded until  it had started to crawl towards the dark ceiling. They were directly facing each other now, both tempers fully activated and the air boiled and bubbled as if to add insult to injury.

 

"See that's your issue Jack- that's what gets me so annoyed whenever you're around- excluding the fact that you so kindly send robots to  ** **attack****  us! You're saying evil this, evil that- let me try an evil this- Whoops… that didn't work out- I'll try a little bit of "evil" that instead…Maybe I can tinker with this good thing to make it seem evil somehow- Hey! Wuya! Did that seem evil enough to you?" Kimiko was on a ranting roll- she wasn't about to stop yet. 

 

"Evil people destroy lives for their own gain and because of hatred with the intention to hurt-" She took in one long breath and continued and Jack just stood frozen and surprised- "but you think that being evil is like some game, like you can toy with the idea and then reload after you mess up to try another form of evil another day- just because you're not sure what to do with yourself next- like there's something you want to prove- I don't know what that is but…" She cried out not sure of how to phrase anything next "you're, you're so selfish!" and then heaved out a breath of air.

"Duh it's…W-well yeah I'm- because I'm evil!" Jack spluttered.

 

The walls had towered higher above them with each breath she had taken between her words. Jack, flustered and trying to distract himself from her murderous gaze followed the movement of the maze around him with his eyes and a small piece of wall crumbled from above and fell on his shoulder. He brushed it off troubled.  Kimiko already began to suspect what was going on but she'd become too upset to care anymore.

 

"Er..Its just a guess, but I think" Jack gulped, staring at the ceiling, " the more angry you get the more growy the maze thing gets."

 

Then his voice came out a bit stronger, "so you need to maybe cool it down so that we can leave here, you know, alive. My evil bucket list doesn't have death by Shen Gong Wu."

 

" ** **DONT TELL ME WHAT TO DO I ALREADY KNOW THAT!**** "

 

Kimiko shrieked and waved her arms around, the labyrinth shook. Jack collapsed like a rag doll and Kimiko was forced into a crouch- she was able to look up at the ceiling and along the sides of the room on which the maze walls had risen to tower around them, defying physics- they also seemed to be curving slightly downwards.

 

Jack rose and gestured wildly upwards as if to say I told you so.

 

"Yeah Spicer!" Kimiko said from the ground and looked over at him "like if you weren't just having a tantrum about how evil you can be-but I'm warning you just quit that FOREVER!" The room rattled again. 

 

"What else am I supposed to be except evil, I told it's my life's work!" 

 

Jack suddenly argued, his head swelling but this time instead of being high pitched his voice came out low. The ground jerked. Jack tried to reach for something to hold on to but there was nothing, and his knees gave way momentarily. 

 

" ** **THAT EVIL YOU LOVE SO MUCH KILLED MY MOM!**** "

Kimiko stood up and cried out with feeling, her eyes started to water. 

 

After the sudden outburst, she blinked and frowned with her arms folded. She had slowly recovered from what had happened to her mom those many years ago along with her dad and older sister but there was something about their arguments and the whole atmosphere that brought parts of her memories back to the surface. There was no real need for her to bring it up then but she had.

 

 _It's time to get out of this maze_. _It's messing with my head._

 

Jack straightened up and went completely quiet. He neither pouted nor searched for a comeback and just stared at her from under low eyelids.

 

_Is he... feeling bad...for me? - No way, can't be, because that would be a proper first!  He's never been too concerned about people's problems._

 

It wasn't only Jack who'd stilled, but also the crumbling and creaking of the maze. Kimiko chanced a glance upwards to check on how things were looking.

 

That's when she noticed.

 

Silent but swift- a huge chunk of maze was falling from the dark ceiling and was seconds away from smashing onto Jack- he was still watching her so he noticed nothing. From that height and that speed- the impact would probably kill him. 

 

Kimiko didn't spare any time for thought and plunged at him shouting:

 

" ** **Watch out!**** "

 

She grabbed him quickly around his waist and pulled him towards her just as the roof collided with the ground with a great, deadly, glass-like crash.

Kimiko toppled over and Jack landed awkwardly on top of her.  She'd had to turn her head away quickly because his lips almost collided with hers, instead, they smacked against her cheek which she found just as disturbing.

 

_Why did I save him again?_

 

When he'd heard the crash, Jack rose slightly above her on his hands and peered behind him to see what he'd barely managed to avoid. He swallowed then turned back to gape at Kimiko whose head was flat on the cold stone floor. She let out a strained sigh, then peered up at Jack's face, inches above hers- Typically this would pass for the highlight scene of some romantic movie- but not for Kimiko, it was more accurate to compare it to a disaster film's climax. Jack was currently the damsel in distress and she could hardly envision anything near romance in their future. But, when up this close, it was difficult to avoid noticing details in his facial features. He had the tiniest of moles under his left eye- it would be hard to spot given that his pitch black eye-liner threatened to swallow it up. She'd thought he'd be the terrible acne type but his skin was surprisingly smooth whether or not he was wearing foundation. Currently his eyes were confused and watery and his crimson irises danced about in them as he said in a bewildered, raspy voice:

 

"You saved me…!"

 

"That's the kind of "boring" thing good people do Jack," she snubbed, "do you mind getting off!?"  she growled, she'd had enough of observing his face and tossed him over like a sack of rice. 

 

"No matter how much we don't get along, I don't really want you to die…you're shocked right?" She remarked sitting up, thoroughly wiping clean her "kissed" cheek. 

 

He sat next to her with one knee up, an arm wresting on it and the lower part of his face hidden behind the arm. From what she could tell his eyes were sheepish.

 

"Yeah…?" Kimiko mumbled under her breath.

 

Jack didn't respond.

 

 _He's pouting. He could just  gloat or say "thanks" or something in that dorky voice of his and we could make this less awkward._  Kimiko grimaced.

 

She breathed out trying to be patient.

 

"Ok- let's try this whole being calm thing. So, file away whatever hate you have for me for just a sec." She said, "and don't pout." She added scoldingly.

 

Jack rested his knee down carefully and fixed her with a sincerely troubled expression- _it's a really weird look for him_ , Kimiko thought.

 

"It's not you…I don't actually hate you," he mumbled and then he let out a low whistle and closed his eyes tightly. That was his attempt at calming down.

 

Kimiko faced away from him and also closed her eyes. She remembered what Master Fung had said to her about clearing her mind and finding her center.

 

They relaxed for about five minutes- neither argued or said a harsh word to the other. The ground they sat on suddenly shook, stopped and then shook again. Jack opened one eye and blurted out in the silence-

 

"I dunno… has it gotten any better?" As soon as he asked that they were hauled along on another conveyor belt- like surface and whisked through doorways that once more emerged through the center of the maze.

 

"You jinxed it!" Kimiko cried.

 

"Think evil thoughts, think evil thoughts..." He mumbled frantically as a twisted form of self comfort. 

 

The grand and glowing exit reappeared and they were pulled through it's light. In unison they shouted out panicked and Kimiko's stomach wrenched when they suddenly plummeted down a slide at a heart stopping speed.

 

Neither cared now about how loudly they screamed and Jack wasted no time  wrapping his arms around Kimiko's head for safety.

 

They were tossed out of the slide, garbage from the Wu's chute and landed flat on their backs with their arms sprawled out. Kimiko's right arm spread across Jack's chest whilst his left arm rested under her head- both were too out of breath to move them. Kimiko just lay there panting heavily.

 

Her braid had fully unwound itself and her crinkly hair fanned out about her and Jack's long, thin arm. She'd have been more upset that she'd lost her expensive hair clips along the way but she was too dazed to show any such emotion.  Jack's goggles were askew and his hair was wilder than before. If the helipack hadn't broken earlier it would have definitely been totaled by now- it was doomed from the moment it entered the demented Wu.

 

Kimiko regained her composure faster than Jack who appeared to have passed out. She was finally able to rise up off his arm and surveyed the new surroundings.

 

So they were still in the Labyrinth Lock.

 

It now presented them before a wide-ovular shaped room that was so far, completely empty- much like the tunnel had been until a maze dramatically appeared. The walls and floor were ocean blue and portions of it seemed to be covered in some sort of moss. She would have felt more grossed out sitting on it had they not already gone through so much drama.

 

When Jack came to he sat up so hastily that his goggles fell lopsided over his eyes. Kimiko- too in pain to do much else, didn't move her seated body but turned her head sluggishly to study him. Jack scrambled at his face and forced the goggles back up on his forehead.

 

_No you weren't blind Jack._

 

Jack heaved a sigh of relief and then took in the scene. His expression grew steadily more dismayed until he let it all out as a tortured groan.

 

_No we haven't escaped the Wu Jack._

 

He then turned to face Kimiko and froze up. He swiveled away from her hastily and bit his lip suddenly serious. Kimiko couldn't be bothered to comment on his strange-r behaviour.

 

There was a long and drawn out silence and then Jack said in a soft voice, still not facing her-

 

"So yeah...sorry about your mom."

 

Kimiko stared at him surprised. He twitched. 

 

_Jack Spicer is saying sorry?_

 

"D-did you hit your head...? " For a moment Kimiko forgot to be angry and couldn't find anything better to respond with. Her mother had died when she was four-which was over ten years ago. The memories of her playing dress up with her mom and going to fairs were faint but still left a warm feeling. The painful memory of learning about the incident that lead to her death still lingered as a constant reminder of why she fought and what she stood for- but even though she didn't regret yelling at Jack about being evil she had maybe said a bit too much by bringing up her mom.

 

 

"No. I dunno. " He responded simply.

 

She sighed. " When I yelled I overreacted a bit, it wasn't your fault anyway…not directly." She added the last part ruefully to make sure he knew she would never approve of anyone choosing the Heylin side.

 

Jack didn't attempt to inquire on the topic anymore and instead chanced a glance at her and said,

 

"Ah and... sorry for trying to nab your bag earlier-" this time his words came out a bit more difficultly. 

 

Kimiko choked loudly. She squinted directly into his eyes. He teetered backwards and his own eyes enlarged as he stared back at her feeling judged. He sighed and then chewed at his lip out of... embarrassment?

 

_Is that the emotion?  So wrong for Jack._

 

"Hey calm down- I'm not saying I wont try to go after the Shen Gong Wu in the future, but you have my villainous word, (no wait that's contradictory)" he added, " you have my regular person word that I wont attempt anything like that again while we're trapped in here," he said raising a hand in the air like if he was swearing in before the court. 

 

"You really think I'm supposed to trust you just like that?" She couldn't simply believe any type of "word" of a Jack Spicer. His reputation was with hatching up various plans to thwart the Xiaolin warriors- whether openly or underhanded- however, all did normally end up as failures. 

 

"Urr no. That would take the fun out of being enemies. But...you saved me right?" He glanced at her sheepishly again, " So I'm telling you I won't steal anything, or plot against you and your los- dwee- friends... " he managed to say, "that is until we get out of here. Fair warning though- I can't guarantee I'd keep saying something nice." He added contemplatively. 

 

 _What's wrong with him all of a sudden? It's unsettling. It's... suspicious._   She frowned at him wary.

 

"How honorable of you. What a samurai." She said emotionless. She wasn't about to make it easy for him- nor did she think she should. 

 

"Really?" His enthused response disappointingly deflated her for a moment.  "Does it seem that way?" he continued and chuckled lightly, he clearly had misread her tone- and she was trying so hard for there to be no tone.

 

Kimiko glared.  _What's with that laugh, it's too unguarded -which is even more annoying._   "Saying that just makes what you said seem less convincing." 

 

"I'm seriously, serious." 

 

Kimiko wasn't sure how honest he was in his mind but as he said those words his voice was low and sobered and his eyes that were normally scheming whenever she or her friends spoke with him- with their sharp diamond shape surrounded by thick, pointed eyebrows, now appeared to be softer and honest. She could trust in that but maybe it'd only last for this one moment of his candid facial expression. She knew too well how quickly the treacherous Jack could switch over to the person or monster (in their kind of world) with the highest odds of winning and keeping his cowardly skin safe.

 

 _If he tries anything again I'll just destroy him,_  she concluded. 

 

Jack observed  her quietly for a short while and then looked her up and down, pausing at her knuckles. The small gashes weren't oozing blood anymore but were red and raw. Jack started to unzip his trench coat. 

 

"Oye- h-hey stop right there! What do you think you're doing!" Kimiko said startled and holding up her fists ready for a fight. Time to destroy Jack Spicer. 

 

"W-what kind of things are  ** **you****   thinking you pervy lady..!? He retorted alarmed.  "Just hold on..." 

 

He began to fumble on the inner lining of the coat- some sort of pocket was there.

 

 _How in the world does he manage to fit anything in a pocket? It always looks so skin-tight_ … Kimiko wondered, she still hadn't relaxed her fighting pose.

Jack pulled out a wad of folded up red bandages with tiny white skulls on them. Some fell to the floor in his haste. He handed them to her whilst trying not to catch her eye.

Kimiko gawked at him and after a while he seemed to feel her gaze and stared back,

 

"What…? My folks sent a bunch of these from overseas- they're handy. I bruise easily okay." Jack added, he huffed and faced away from her again but she could see traces of a faint blush on his pasty cheeks.

 

Kimiko snorted.

 

The whole situation was a bit ridiculous. She could have flat out refused to take them but she wasn't going to be "that" person- not to mention she was, sort of thankful for the gesture. She even attempted to show it and mumbled awkwardly:

"Uhh thanks...then, I guess?"

 

_I can't do this.  Jack Spicer tried to help me and I just thanked Jack Spicer- that's status worthy._

 

"You don't happen to have any salve hidden away in there too," Kimiko joked as she peeled at two of the smaller sized bandages he'd given to her, "do yo-?"

 

"Here. There's not a lot and it's runny so don't make it spill- I wont try scooping any back up because the whole thing'll get contaminated." Jack instructed carefully and seriously after handing her a small vial of ointment- also from his inner coat pocket.

 

Kimiko took it from him and pressed her lips together trying to hold in giggles. Everything about Jack was so mismatched especially his tacky spiral goggles and the kind of things that were important to him even in troublesome situations like this, Kimiko thought, but it was, she admitted to herself reluctantly, strangely lightening the air. Most of their anger at each other from before seemed to be fizzling away, but it still didn't change the fact that she disliked him- she firmly believed this.

 

Perhaps the intense anger was also fueled along by the Labyrinth Lock Shen Gong Wu? Which also brought up another thought in Kimiko's mind but Jack began to speak before she had the time to voice her thoughts.

 

"Err…" Jack murmured- it was etched with caution  "… do you think you can stop attacking me and we can not shout at each other before anything else in this place goes wack? That'd be nice."

 

Kimiko sighed "Fine…" she agreed "…if you stop whining…" she added pettily out of spite.

 

"Deal!" Jack grinned.

 

"Let's just focus on getting out of here."

 

" And you're with the king of focus!" Jack said sounding positive. He was only acting happy now that he'd had been spared from her for the time being. She knew it was just that, somehow she was sure this would all lead back to him shamelessly looking out for himself. 

 

"Okay, so I had a thought- how long would you reckon we've been trapped here for?" Kimiko began.

 

"About two hours give or take…?" Jack suggested, seeming eager to keep up the mood which didn't involve him getting torn to shreds by Kimiko.

 

"And it would've taken us both about a straight non-stop 8 hours ride to get to Norway, considering I was flying air Dojo."

 

"I used my new and improved Jack Jet- it has top of the line turbo boosters and an in-built state of the art GPS Navigation system so I'd say around 6 hours - would've been faster if I hadn't encountered some low level wind shear and my Shen Gong Wu sensor didn't need a few modifications at the lair." Jack answered with a shrug.

 

 _I get it, you're also tech savvy_. Kimiko groaned and continued.

 

"Mm riiight… Did you eat anything whilst flying? Are you hungry now?"

 

"Just had an energy drink and nope. Plus I had a slice of Salmon Coulibiac for breakfast that someone probably left in the fridge from the last fancy dinner party my parents had and let's just say it wasn't settling too well." He held his stomach at the memory of it and it gurgled. 

 

"Uh yeah," Kimiko tried to delete any mental imagery, " my theory is that it seems like this place operates with such a powerful mind of it's own that while we're in here it responds to our reactions and is even able have this stupid control over our bodies. Like an emotionally advanced AI."

 

Jack frowned not following.

 

"You said it before right? Even though a lot of time passed and we should be ready to sleep right about now or eat…or even feel sick- that you weren't feeling any of that."

 

"I did? Must've been ages ago" Jack answered surprised "and you remembered? I'm touched."

 

Kimiko sighed again.

 

"Anyway I was literally ready to pass out on Dojo before we got sucked into this place, but now even though my body feels messed up I'm not tired at all. So," she continued " because of the intelligence of this Wu, I have a sneaky feeling that it's like it's got it's eye on us and the only way we might be able to get out of here faster without having to go through any more of these lame tasks is if someone deals with it or maybe opens it up from the outside."

 

Jack let out a low groan. 

 

"And," she went on "seeing as this Wu isn't your average one and comes in the form of a basic low-tech padlock, to open it there probably has to be a-"

 

"Lock pick- or a precision torch- damn I had one of those back in the lair… man I miss my gadgets right now, or ooh maybe a laser and light detecting sens-"

 

"-key"

 

"Yeah I was getting to that." Jack said dryly. " Anyways- that's on the outside so I guess I have no choice but to rely on your Xiaolin los-" He swallowed the word "-friends and that they find whatever it is to help you fast, because I know no one will be looking for me." He laughed gloatingly like if he was confident in the idea and then stopped mid-laugh obviously realizing how sad it had sounded.

 

Kimiko realised that for a moment she actually felt kind of sorry for him…  _Nope what am I doing…this is Jack Spicer here._

 

She scolded herself and began to pinch one of her cheeks.

 

"Err..what are you doing?" Jack queried with a raised eyebrow.

 

"Nothing."She answered flatly.

 

Jack raised his hands in the air to show he wanted nothing but peace and said, "whatever floats your boat."

 

Kimiko thought for a moment, "What if maybe we shouldn't be playing along and just wait things out?" 

 

Just then the entire room dropped slightly. Kimiko's chest quivered from the sudden shock and goosebumps rose on her neck as a foreboding, chilly wind encircled them and they looked about.

 

"I don't think it likes that...this thing is almost evil!"  Jack commented slightly impressed. "But...still not up to my standards. If it has a mouth, it needs to do an evil laugh to convince me."

 

Above them words in red began to materialize.

 

"Challenge accepted." Kimiko scowled threateningly. She'd take pleasure in throwing the Wu down a volcano once they beat it. 

 


	4. UNOPENED BOX

**Trials came cocooned,**

**Misunderstanding did arise**

**From the tree they fell.**

* * *

**Hope lights up the sky**

**Fated two must meet again**

**Butterflies always.**

 

 

The words hovered for about a minute- enough time for Kimiko to read it carefully over twice and then each word disappeared steadily from the bottom up as if someone was pressing backspace on a keyboard.

 

"Oh yay."

 

Kimiko said drily. She pressed her fist to her cheek and leaned against it. She wasn't in the mood for another one of these "riddles"- nor did the essence of the unnaturally empty, ovular setting lend to more games. It much reminded her of something else:

 

"Feels like I'm in the meditation hall sitting through another one of Master Fung's One thousand and one dull life lessons." She commented and stared off into the void that was the giant room. After another minute of wary silence she tepidly posed a question to Jack without sparing him a glance,

 

"Any idea what this one's supposed to mean?"

 

She was determined to make it obvious to the often oblivious boy that she wasn't too enthused about the idea of them working together. To further define to Jack the already well-established distance in their relationship, she also planned  on not revealing any of her thoughts or feelings in relation  to their situation and whether or not the Wu had phased her in the slightest. 

 

"It's a Haiku isn't it? About two people who had to overcome some kind of emotional trap in order to be free?" Came the surprising answer of a thinking Jack Spicer.

 

Kimiko's head whipped around so fast that she cricked her neck. Jack shrugged. 

 

_Maybe we're really dead in here- Jack knows something that isn't technology- or the best way to act stupid._

 

Both of Kimiko's eyebrows raised dangerously beyond her hairline in disbelief.

 

"Uh..." He backed away from her with wide, defensive eyes. "You can stop with all the judging …Mom used to host a book club with a bunch of middle-aged housewives at our place when I was a kid and sometimes I'd sit in."

 

Kimiko's expression didn't budge.

 

"Keyword: "kid" and it's not like I enjoyed it. Bad doesn't do poetry," Jack puffed,  "it does hip things like-"

 

"-using cheap hair gel and hiding behind a girl for safety?" Kimiko quipped. 

 

"Exactly." Jack answered without thinking and then paused to soak in her mocking remark, "stop that," he complained  with a scowl. 

 

"So you're saying you were rotten since childhood?" Kimiko offered instead through a grin. 

 

"Now you're on the right track- rotten, but not a good bad- perfect badness lies in steady cultivation and now I am perfectly bad," Jack winked quickly, but that one slimy wink set her entire being to cringe.

 

"Sure..." Kimiko remarked, halfheartedly eyeing his smugly optimistic but frail countenance. "If these phrases or Haikus or whatever that appear are clues for what's ahead of us," she continued, brushing away the mental image of him winking at her, " then, this room must be the start of another damn task. Alright, I've decided to face this thing head on and figure out it's issues until we're let out of here. I won't let it throw me around anymore."

 

Jack nodded and said, "You do your thing and I'll do mine. Just keep in mind that I'm not your main enemy in here (even though I'm your best enemy)," he added forwardly, his air was confident, "so there's no need for us to jack each other up." He finished with a warning. 

 

 ""Jack each other up"...?" Kimiko silently mouthed, exasperated. This went unnoticed. The ever eloquent Jack was now busy wincing and plastering up a tiny cut on his finger he'd just discovered. Soon after he glanced at her coyly and pressed two fingers together,  "and, remember that...my skin is sensitive..." 

 

_Save my soul. She groaned internally._

 

Kimiko pushed out her lip as she frowned.

 

"Okaay, back to the Haiku- Poetically it's talking about breaking through obstacles- so placed into our context- for this task if we complete a set of trials together, hope will come in the form of a way out? Then you can actually say the book club was helpful." It was her turn to shrug and she was still aiming to exude that she had it all figured out on the outside.

 

_I am so over this place. Forget books I want to use my damn phone!_

 

"Sounds about right, I agree- and if it works you'll be a little less grouchy" Jack said with a sly smile, standing up slightly hunched over because of the fall. He began scanning around, appearing to be anticipating that something would pounce. After what had happened in the last task she didn't blame him.

 

"Bad choice of adjective- but yes! We've actually come to the same conclusion for once…I'd say that's one trial down but I don't see any sign of an exit." Kimiko joked wryly. In the distant center of the room two small stone platforms about three feet apart, surrounded by tufts of lemon green grass materialized in a timely fashion. Kimiko and Jack glanced at each other with wary eyes.

 

"It must be something we said? Things in here have a habit of replying..." Kimiko suggested. The platforms practically beckoned to them with the words "please come step on us," but she believed they also sneakily whispered: "you foolish mortals are suckers."

 

"Oh what the heck. There's no other way to get out of this hole. Here I come, trial number one." Kimiko sighed.

 

"I think this technically counts as the second trial- but I dunno, sometimes even I get my multiplications mixed up." He timidly corrected her. 

 

"Whatever." She responded curtly and began to trod indignantly ahead. Jack trailed cautiously and fearfully behind. They stood in front of the two platforms- which were wider than they seemed from where they'd first stood. Kimiko took a deep breath, ready, she stepped up onto one. A thin beam of light shot from the high ceiling to the floor and she followed it upwards and saw that the small "breathing" gap above was spreading open. The platform Kimiko was on shuddered and Jack gawked at her from ground level as she slowly started to ascend.

 

A cool breeze fluttered down from the overhead exit and the sweet fragrance of flowers and fresh air welcomely pranced through the room's pungent earthy smells. The outside sky edged a little nearer and her eyes began to blink in anticipation of a brilliant afternoon sun.   "It's working, something has to be wrong this is way too ea- " Kimiko started to say, disbelief invading feelings of hope. 

 

"Shh," Jack loudly silenced her- amazed eyes still following her climb, "haven't you seen those movies where the idiot side character says that and then it all goes kaput?"

 

"Like you're not a pro idiot side character yours-" Kimiko's retort sunk with her platform as she plummeted pathetically downwards- away from bliss, the ceiling sealed mockingly back up. Her eyes were plastered open from the shock of the sudden drop. If they hadn't had incidents like this happen on several occasions in Showdowns she would've definitely been sick. Her graceless fall happened in under two seconds. Disoriented, she valiantly attempted to stagger into an upright position, and she'd just vowed that she wouldn't let the Wu get the better of her.

 

_You can do this girl..._

 

"A-all good?" Jack asked, his eyes followed the movement of her body as it tottered from left to right. He began to whistle tunelessly.

 

"I'm not gonna say I told you so. " he added, grinned weakly and waved a pretend peace flag. Then squeaked through his teeth, "Told you so..."

 

"You better put that flag down!" Kimiko grunted, rubbing at her temples, her head was splitting but she was in full control of her body once more. "Now we're still trapped!" She growled harshly through the throbbing pain. 

 

"Noooo! If you won't take her then let me out, I'll trade you anything...except myself!" Jack wailed, coming to terms once more with the truth of their situation. 

 

She eyed the second platform and noticed that from her angle it appeared to be slightly translucent- it didn't seem very solid. It was definitely another dud. 

 

"Can you zip it!? You step on it then- the other one. If it's you it might make a difference."

 

She knew it wouldn't.

 

"Y-you think so?" Jack croaked out hoarsely, confused by her baseless confidence. He suddenly cleared his throat theatrically and with a slow and deliberate folding of his arms responded, "As much as it's music to hear you acknowledge my importance- I'll gladly decline." Kimiko opened her mouth to argue but Jack added,

 

"This isn't me whining!"  His volume rose with each word. He was whining. He cut-eyed the second platform like he would an arch-enemy (which was basically Kimiko and the other Xiaolin warriors).

 

Kimiko persevered and nudged him towards the platform as gently as she could, "just try it." She goaded him on- her tone caramel sweet. "We have to get out of here right? Plus I'm way too dizzy to give it another go. You'll stand a much better chance than I, Jack. Maybe the Wu prefers you because I've been too harsh ."  It was so difficult putting on a show like this, sounding so dependent, but it was for the cause! She thought determined. 

Jack pursed his lips- "I guess that makes sense... maybe..." He was clearly trying not to buy it, but was torn between whether getting trapped up on the platform or facing the wrath of Kimiko was the better option. He chose the anomalous, floating stone platform and his ego.

 

"Okay... but I won't enjoy it if it drops me like that. Just so you know." He gulped, moved tentatively forward, yelped and then took a deep breath.  For some mind-blowing reason, Jack decided it would be easier to hop up on both legs instead and came down hard. He slipped right through the platform and fell to his knees.

 

  _Priceless._

 

"All good? It didn't work, that's too bad." Kimiko's words were innocent but her satisfied grin guilty. She hummed to herself.

 

_Serves him right._

 

Jack got up, stepped back,  moped about and glowered at her at the same time.

 

"Did you know that was gonna happen?" He accused whilst snuffling. He then stood up matchstick straight, poorly pretending to be unfazed. 

 

"Nope..Right, now that that's been done, I got it- let's try stepping on them at the same time? The clue was about two people so..." Kimiko suggested,trying and failing to wipe the smile off her face.

 

"You so knew…what about our alliance? You're more detestable than I am!" The evil boy genius hissed out like an over boiling kettle rather than a menacing snake.

 

"That's an incorrect supposition. Fact: there's no one more detested than you. " Kimiko sharply counteracted- ready to one-up him at any time.

 

He took a moment to consider what she'd said. "Ah...  keep it up, that statement had sort of an evil tinge to it! " Jack continued, now appearing entertained, "being detestable and all, I wont do it because you tell me to…nope and make myself look like a f-"

 

"You're always a fool."

 

"-ool...Touche" Jack responded flatly as his bloated resolve became a deflated balloon, then he pouted "…fine," he spat, "but we swap platforms."

 

_Still a win._

 

"Fi-ine." Kimiko responded in a sing-song voice. She'd just step on it lightly and not imitate a plodding troll as Jack had.

 

"On three?" They counted up and stepped. Both of their shoes connected with something solid. They were just about to celebrate victory when the floating stone platforms jerked forward, lifted them off their feet and back to the floor. The Wu still held it's title as champion over them. Kimiko felt like she'd been bucked off a bull- like that time she actually had been when they went to Clay's ranch. It all just added to some of the sores she had already gained from the maze.

 

A guttural groan escaped Jack. A yell was directed from Kimiko to the ceiling. All resonated from their supine positions on the cold ground. This was the second time the Wu threw them down like that and it was once again grating on Kimiko. 

 

"RAI, OMI, CLAY, HELLO!? What're you guys doing? Please help faster because I'm about to explode! I bet you're laughing it up aren't you Labyrinth Lock? My new coat got ripped because of you. Wait 'til I get out of here and then I'll- " 

 

"Uh uh, no exploding, no walls break on us and I don't get tempted to grab bags, remember, we agreed on that?" Jack half pleaded , half threatened. He turned on his side to face her and rested up on an arm, cheek in palm, to survey her from above.

 

"That's it! I get what it might be!" Kimiko suddenly cried out.

 

Startled, Jack's hand slipped from under his cheek.  "I think you said that already…" He reminded her in a dry and unhelpful tone, "but go on, my evil Jack motto is: keep trying unless you might be dying. Or are we already dead?" He bit his lip.

 

"We're not. I'll tell you, but it's gonna be so lame if that's the case, yeah, you heard that? You're lame Lock!" Kimiko finished by barking directly at the Shen Gong Wu, unable to hold back. Jack tutted. "What did we do right before these platforms appeared?" She asked, ignoring his hypocritical reproaches. 

 

Jack's now serious eyes concentrated on the side of her face. She could feel his heavy gaze scanning from the top of her forehead to her chin as he frowned trying hard to remember and then with a burst of sudden energy he sat up.

 

"Got it! We were saying how smart and bad I was. Great times…" there was definitely a smile waltzing about with his nostalgic words.

 

Kimiko turned painfully to face him. He had the smile she'd heard playing on his lips, she tried to look him boldly and challengingly in the eyes as she spoke so as to not add any more fuel to his foolish fire. But unaware and unabashed as always, his satisfied smirk just grew wider.

 

She sighed and explained, "We agreed on something that relates to the other. I said we'd have to complete another trial together and that you'd find the book club helpful and you said I wont be upset and we agreed…"

 

"Grouchy not upset." he corrected. "Doesn't matter…was just an itsy, bitsy, insignificant grammar thing," he added hastily on catching her finishing glare.

 

" So maybe," her voice grew sharper as she grit her teeth, he was really trying her patience with him and this "peace alliance", "if we agree like that again…As strange as it sounds- this whole place is that warped- it might work?"

 

They rose and faced the platforms once more.

 

"Let's agree that I'm the greatest mastermind on the planet." Jack crowed and released a raspy, breathy laugh.

 

"Now for something realistic…" She snuffed him out in an instant. 

 

Jack's laugh faded away and turned into an odd squelching noise much like the vanishing platform he fell through earlier. 

 

"We can agree that you really have red hair?" She suggested to his sullen face.

 

 "Weeell no- this is dye."  Jack pointed to his hair,  "It's made me look amazing I know, but I guess I finally have to admit it's not natural." He sucked in air through his teeth and his pale lips slanted up towards his cheek in an apologetic smile.

 

Kimiko figured as much, she was actually just curious- she knew hair and hair products well and that shade of red was so bright that it couldn't be real- plus the colour and his hairstyle were far outdated just like the boy donning them.

 

"Okay,  let's agree that fire is the most powerful Chinese element?" That was a given.

 

"Weeell…" Jack began, smirking.

 

"Oh come on, it totally is!" Kimiko said a little too defensively. 

 

"Mmhm, wait, wait- easy one- how about we agree that you're Japanese."

 

"Actually…"

 

Jack was visibly shocked.

 

"Me, my sister and my dad were born in Japan but mom wasn't. So genetically, I'm half Japanese? If this thing wants us to completely agree on a fact then that might be some kind of drawback."

 

"Heh." Jack said, "Sweet!"

 

"Huh..why sweet?" Kimiko asked puzzled by the sudden praise. Jack cocked his head and neck to the side to match her height. He began to intensely stare her in the eyes like he was trying to absorb them in, she blinked this time around- having Jack look at her that way was wrong and making her uncomfortable. 

 

"Yeah, as in it's very cool. I kinda wanted to know why your eyes were that blue and if it was just contacts or something or maybe you're really a smokin' alien girl from another planet?" He grinned at his own geeky jibe.

 

"Um no, they're my eyes…" Kimiko frowned. Jack suddenly caught himself, his smug smile vanished and he frowned back.

 

"… stop making comments like that about me, it doesn't suit you." Kimiko said coolly.

 

"...Yeah…definitely- that's totally true." Jack nodded slowly and instantly quit staring. He then proceeded to try to explain himself- "I confuse some blues and reds so I gotta take a good hard look. Just to clarify, you're eyes are definitely blue...then?" 

 

"Yes." She answered grouchily. 

 

"Nice." He responded awkwardly.

 

"Fine." She said.

 

The stones before them shook readily and then stopped just as suddenly.

 

"Reeeally?" Kimiko asked the room, peeved.

 

They checked with each other and then stepped on the platforms in unison. Several things happened at once- The room around them began to expand. The floor that was once covered in moss gave way to a lush spread of green grass speckled with yellow Acacia flowers that rippled to life beneath them. Etched at the bottom of the far wall ahead of them appeared patterned and twisting lines that seemed to be carved with white light. Kimiko and Jack were carried along on the stone platforms and were elevated several feet. They came to sudden stop and before them a wider, now white granite platform emerged from thin air. They took that as an invitation to move along and walked onto it.

The previous stone platforms vanished.

 

Jack stared up longingly at the ceiling which now had in it a bowling ball sized hole through which a grey-ish blue sky was visible- the colours of late afternoon. Kimiko on the other hand took an apprehensive look down to gauge how high up from the ground they'd risen- Not too high but high enough for a painful fall. They had a very long way to go in the opposite direction too by the looks of it. 

 

"We're almost there!" Jack chimed, the opposite of her concerns. "Does this mean we took a  _ **step up**_  in the task? " He beamed at Kimiko, candidly begging for recognition of his pun. Kimiko happily ignored him.

 

"What it means is, we've gotten closer to that exit again. I'd like to say it's the way out of this whole Wu but I don't even know anymore," Kimiko pointed to the hole in the ceiling "but, I do believe it also means if you keep  **behaving**  yourself we might actually get out of here faster." Kimiko said scoldingly and unconsciously stroked at the plasters on her knuckles. Jack caught the action and Kimiko heard him let out a low hum before commenting,

 

"I'm not your baby, don't tell me to  _behave_ …Okay did that come out wrong, because I think it came out wrong?"

 

"So wrong.."

 

"I mean- I gave you those things," he motioned with his rounded chin at the plasters, " to say getting on your good side is better than getting killed in this place because I started a war with your bad side and I plan to live to see more days. Remember evil lesson number two?" He asked and for a brief moment he seemed hopeful that she'd paid attention.

 

"So it's nothing more than that…" he added quickly, once he realised she wasn't playing along, "don't get it twisted."

 

_Well you didn't need to tell me that Jack, you're Jack after all and it's not like I've ever expected kindness from you- or wanted it for that matter._

 

"I should have known." Kimiko said cynically. "I'm so tempted to take them back off." They began to walk further onto the floating granite platform which she'd noticed took up just about a third of the room. She'd figured out that Jack had only been "nice" because she was the only one in here for him to keep on his side.

 

"Don't" he said hastily. That response caught her off-guard.

 

"Now why ever not?" She continued in her skeptical tone.

 

"I can't stand seeing too much blood." he sighed and rubbed at his nose bridge. Jack had frequent nosebleeds. 

 

_What a surprise, yet another Jack-centric response._

 

"You're so heroic Jack! Is there anything you're not scared of?" Kimiko asked, ensuring that the sarcasm in her voice was thick and obvious.

 

"My genius." He answered plainly to thwart her sarcasm. "Wait, nevermind, sometimes even that terrifies me." He said in a raspy voice, smirking crookedly. There wasn't even an ounce of shame to be detected in his words and because of that a loud, watery groan escaped Kimiko's throat,

 

"Are you sure you're trying to avoid an early end?"she threatened. They'd come to the other side of the granite platform.

 

"Hey a temporary non-violence pact benefits us both in leaving here alive," his voice was steady and words diplomatic but his eyes betrayed his tension. Kimiko was starting to realise that Jack was a pasty ball of conflicting emotions. Kimiko hesitated for a moment, she wasn't sure what possessed her to ask it, or if it even mattered but a tiny part of her wanted to know- maybe some of Omi's optimistic naivety was rubbing off on her, 

 

"So I guess you saying sorry twice before was just another ploy for self-preservation?" She rolled her eyes and forced her tone to sound completely uninterested in the answer- not that she wasn't, she thought, it wasn't like she was expecting much. Jack faced her for a moment, his brows furrowed and lips twisted into a tight "o" shape.

 

 _It's like he's actually debating something in that mundane mind of his_. Kimiko held back a chuckle.

 

His response finally came out somewhat reluctant but also somewhat sincere. He balled his hands into fists and stared at the wall so that she couldn't read his expression face on.

 

"You know, I don't say that word often- not at all actually- so when I say it I mean it and I meant it. Just don't expect any heartwarming heart to hearts, dunno if I'm capable of being that nice." He said the last few words ruefully instead of with the usual sneer he'd have when he figured something was evil enough. Kimiko found that strange and for some reason it frustrated her- being unable to match his words to his character. Was he up to his roundabout but eventually useless machinations?  Even though he was easy to read she couldn't and shouldn't take the things he said at face value- with the countless times he tried to fool her and her friends, stole from them, carelessly and purposefully put them in danger, allied with evildoers and behaved ridiculous in general- there was a long list. To her discomfort she had to prevent her mind from recalling his troubled face- eyebrows curved up and mouth turned down when she'd brought up her mom or when she'd hurt herself. Although, the latter was probably triggered by the sight of her blood. She wished she could take just a peek into people's minds- so thoughts like these wouldn't nag at her all the time and she'd just know. Then again, that kind of invasion might make her no better that the Labyrinth Lock. But still...

 

 _Just shut up Jack…I  don't want you taking up any more than the spec of space  I have allotted for you in my brain._ Kimiko groaned.

 

Kimiko liked where her mind was currently at- decisive and settled. It was so comfortable, so guarded. She knew her likes and dislikes, where she stood, what she had and wanted to do and what she believed of everyone and everything she encountered- all, she was sure, was especially clear when it came to her thoughts on Jack. If she kept trying to study him she worried that could lead to her searching for something to better understand who he really was- and that could annoyingly mean that somewhere along the way she'd have to admit she'd said or done something wrong to him- even though that was more unlikely than likely. 

 

_Nah I  wouldn't.  Jack is still Jack. I can't forget that._

 

Kimiko hadn't realised that she'd been squinting at him all the while. The more her eyes slanted, the more Jack took a step backwards.

 

"Err… I'll defend myself!" He responded hastily flapping his weak arms about him.

 

"You're definitely confusing and totally trouble." She concluded with her own arms assured and akimbo, then she gracefully walked away leaving him perplexed. She was now satisfied that she'd summed him up enough to end her fleeting curiosity.

 

"Hold on. Was that a…compliment? Keep them coming. Then we can playfully banter back and forth with them." Jack said smugly to her back. Now he's behaving as expected.

 

_This jerk._

 

She wheeled  around on her heels. "Spicer, if you ever hear me compliment you after all you've done, I'll let you...I'll let you braid my hair, I'm that confident it won't happen." She said with her head held high, satisfied, she wasn't ready to budge.

 

"Random, but nah, I'll pass." Jack shook his head and screwed up his face into one of disapproval.

 

"Good."

 

Kimiko decided to scan the surroundings. It would be miles better than thinking about anything to do with Jack. A lot had altered since they were on the ground level.  The patterned light carvings that had appeared on the wall across from them had no recognisable form but seemed to be divided into two separate scribbles spread at an even distance apart. The now grassy field below was a lot friendlier than it's dank predecessor, but the splendor of the golden flowers were somewhat marred by the ominous air of the room. Where the aqua-marine blue light that illuminated the area came from she had no idea- it certainly wasn't from the small hole in the ceiling. The granite plane they stood on had nothing around in sight to clue them in on how they could reach closer to that exit- if it was the exit and if they could fit. If the walls weren't still covered in a disgusting, slimy moss she'd have tried to climb them. Plus that'd just mess up her outfit more. 

 

Basically it all made Kimiko firmly believe that this Wu was created solely for the purpose of trolling whoever fell inside.

 

Her gaze landed back on Jack. He now carried the dazed expression of a child lost in the park and continuously slid a hand through his brushed back scarlet hair. He wandered from corner to corner searchingly. She raised an eyebrow or two as he jumped in the air several times at different spots as if he expected he'd just float up to the exit once he did it correctly. Without fail for each of the jumps that didn't work out he'd appear stunned and frustrated as if he wholeheartedly believed something would change after the fiftieth attempt. The Wu seemed to be playing mind games more than ones that could be overcome with physical actions, but, it was likely that Jack hadn't noticed that.

He glanced over to her and shrugged, she dragged her palm slowly over her face and when she removed it Jack was right in front of her frowning. His proximity was so close that she almost staggered back and off the edge of the platform.

 

"What!?" She asked righting herself by rotating her arms and shoving him back.

 

"Maybe if we jump up at the same time…?" He was dead serious.

 

"No!"

 

"Then what's your cunning plan, hawk stare the place down so hard that it trembles with fear and gives up?" Jack chuckled. She glared at him cuttingly.

 

"I'm wondering- seeing as we had to agree on something relating to each other before, maybe we should try again? So, how about we agree that we don't like each other, that seems workable."

 

"It kinda does, ok, I agree, I don't like a Xiaolin loser like yourself and you don't like the easily brilliant, evil me." Jack grinned showing teeth. They paused silently waiting.

 

Nothing happened.

 

Kimiko spun to stun Jack with an incredulous stare.

 

Jack was stunned.

 

"Wha-huh? D-don't look at me, I swear I believe that...wait is it..? You…? Me..?" Jack's jaw began to yo-yo  and he pointed at her perpetually as he tried to formulate an actual sentence, "do you actually?" he began to slowly point at himself "Did I score?  Do you…? " He closed his mouth figuring words were futile, scratched his cheek with his thumb and threw her a questioning glance.

 

"I'd rather eat slime!" She answered with conviction. Why did he ever dare to think otherwise?

 

"Help yourself it's all over the place and yeah, yeah I know you don't already- you made that pretty loud and clear in the maze and back when I kidnapped you." Jack huffed.

 

"Urgh, Don't sound upset about it!" Kimiko groaned.

 

"You're the enemy  of course I don't _actually_ like you…" Thank goodness for that, she thought. His interest had always sounded creepy at best. 

 

"I'm not upset!" Jack continued adamantly, "You have no idea how much I have all the charm I need to attract any other girl in the world." Jack whined.

 

"Fine, we'll just say that this stage doesn't work just because we agree. So what is it then…?" This time it was Kimiko who was willing to settle the argument quickly. The topic was too disturbing. They finally looked away from each other and back around the empty platform. There, at its center, now rested a great, ornate wooden box.

 

"That…wasn't there before." Kimko commented exasperated. "Let's-"

 

"Nope. I'm not going near that thing- only three terrors could come in a wooden box that looks like that- Dracula, a freakishly over-sized Wuya or the batch of huge unmentionables Gran ships down from the UK when she stays at our place."

 

_Ew too much information._

 

Jack winced. "You go right ahead and let me know if it's safe."

 

That was fine, he could stay back and watch, she'd figure out this next trial too. Kimiko walked slowly towards the box at the center. It was rectangular in shape, made of a glossy, dark mahogany with embossed vines and roses that were painted delicately with ink. The box itself was of a height that reached just over a foot above her head. As she examined it she noticed several muti-sized notches and what looked like wooden levers made for sliding. Along the top of the box was a long, thin crack that revealed it could be possibly be opened. She pulled herself up onto it easily. At the box's center was a raised, spiral emblem like a wheel- was that sealing the box closed? On the box's face above the spiral was a short sentence carved in red ink:

" ** _To open: understand one to know, then know one to understand."_**

She said loud enough for Jack to hear.

_And yet another puzzle begins._

 

Well, she reasoned, at least she knew it was in fact meant to be opened but, it most definitely wouldn't be easy. So, it couldn't hurt to try by using strength first. She tried to lift up the top emblem. It made a squeaky sound but didn't budge. She even twisted it but that didn't alter a thing. All the while Jack observed quietly, leaning back on his hands. She decided that maybe she should start with something from the sides of the box. She pulled at a lever. It moved and then slid right back. She lifted a wooden latch. It swung back and forth like a cat flap. Jack sat forward.

 

_It's definitely a mind game._

 

"What the heck is this useless thing-?" Kimiko growled to herself, she had to continue to prove she was also capable of figuring this out on her own, seeing as Jack had informed her early of how unhelpful he'd be and of how much to blame he'd thought she should take for the maze. 

At the exact moment she thought his name, Jack Road Runner-ed up to the box and began examining it from all angles, then he exclaimed excitedly,

 

"Heey, I know what this is! Don't you know what it is? "

 

Kimiko glowered at him.

 

Jack's red eyes lit up like a neon sign. His face glowed like a Christmas tree.

 

"I have tons of these in my lair from thrift shops and yard sales. It's a trick box. Sort of like Wuya's puzzle box (which was junk mind you-shoddy craftsmanship),  'cept this one's actually powered by physics rather than Dashi's lame magic! No matter how many times you super-girl at it, it wont budge that easy my Fire Bending princess." he addressed her still beaming and Kimiko could've sworn she saw his chest beef up as much as his ego must be swelling.

 

_He's enjoying lording knowledge over me, isn't he._

 

"Weren't you just hiding from granny undies- shoo Spicer," she flapped a small but commanding hand at him.

 

"I'm pretty sure I can handle this one." Jack said enthused and his Cheshire cat smile was disconcerting.

 

"There might be a great big, worn out bra in here- I told you I got this!" She warned and wrenched vehemently at another latch, it wriggled for a moment and stayed put.

 

"And I told you that won't cut it. Come on, can I help?" He was practically quivering now. She'd never witnessed him being this excited before. It was a huge change from his reluctance to go through with everything else they'd done so far.

 

"Fine. Okay. Relax." She grumbled. It wasn't like he needed to ask her permission. He clapped once, crouched low and began to bite at the side of his bottom lip.

 

"The secret is in working the mechanism in the correct sequences and at precise angles." He instructed in deep concentration.

 

"I follow. But then why: "To open: understand one to know, then know one to understand" ?"

 

"You have to know and understand how to open it?" He guessed offhandedly whilst fiddling with large latches at one corner of the box. "It's archaic- an Anatolian model by the looks of it- I'd say circa 450 AD- it's obviously replicated for the Wu.  Never actually seen one in person but that's what the internet is for. You can clearly tell by the repetition of vertical divisions and-"

 

"-clearly. Can you open it then?" Kimiko cleared her throat and tried to stop him from rambling . 

 

_He's so showing off.  I'd've figured it was an old trick box- eventually, there were just more advanced products out there now._

 

Jack on the other hand didn't seem to be paying attention to her anymore but remained focused and continued talking to himself, lost in the device,  "huh...they're usually more simple compared to modern creations and don't have all these- doohickeymajigs-"

 

"Genius terminology,"she commented sarcastically, a little annoyed that he hadn't answered her. 

 

  "My vocab's rusty. This one's funny though- it's intricately complex given its size. This Wu must've worked hard." Jack low whistled.

 

"Don't praise it, also there's been a pattern with these "tasks" so far you know- there's always a deeper and more meddlesome meaning." Kimiko warned him. 

 

"Oh? Meh, we'll get to that once I open this sucker. Shouldn't take more than a few minutes." He responded with certainty.

 

""Meh" huh?" Well he was uncharacteristically unperturbed. She wasn't sure she wanted to ask this with the insane level of his interest but that damned curiosity… "so why exactly do you have so many of these stocked up in your twisted lair?"

 

He paused finally and seized the opportunity.

 

_What did I walk into?_

 

"Those ones are way smaller of course- I'd love to keep this one but a master craftsman needs ample amounts of space in his workshop. Anyway, they come in handy when you want to dupe potential clients." He chortled. "So I order in a lot for that purpose. Picture this scenario dear innocent one-

Devastatingly diabolical Jack Spicer proposes:

"Today's a special bargain day. For only an easy, cheap addition of $202, I'll throw in this one of a kind antique I managed to procure from a Malaysian prince, but that's not all, you'll also receive a pricey, precious diamond necklace inside along with the top quality bot parts you ordered." He said it in a gravelly business-like manner.

 

"202...?" She scoffed- this boy was weird. 

 

"If I say a flat well-rounded number it'll seem generic- the extra $2 adds pizzazz and shows I'm not cheap. Anyway, did you catch that it's all in the adjectives?

 

 _"Weird Al Jackovic","Jack the Joker" no, "Jack and the dweeb-talk" hehe._  She hadn't caught it at all, her musings took her elsewhere. 

 

" I chuck one of Mom's $1000 pieces (that's child's play for her) into a $30 trick box , then show it to a gullible client over a video call, they don't see me of course- 'cept that one time I had allergies and sneezed all over the webcam and had to- anyway that's not important, back to the story- 

"How do I know that it is as valuable as you say?" They ask, "You don't," I answer, "But it'll be your loss when my next client snatches it up and wins bragging rights over you- tik tock,  time is money and you're wasting it." You have to make it sound convincing. I take a  pause for dramatic effect and then say:

"I'll just save the box for them then shall I-"

"No wait...deal!" They say. They think I'm stupid at this point. Then when I get my cash and they get the bots and box they gripe:

"You tricked me, it won't open!" and I say,

"Aw really, that's too bad, it opened for me. You sure you're doing it right?" I know they'll never open it, I only find the trickiest of trick boxes. They're hell to try and smash. Plus they'd never risk it if they think the priceless jewelry is inside and, without wanting to break it open, they have no alibi. They won't report it either because what officer wouldn't love to hear about their use of unlicensed robotic process automation- plus I always use my alias so it won't lead back to me. "

 

"What alias? idiot@stupid?" She offered. Terrible...scamming people now too? Then again it was his style: create a distraction, then steal.  

 

"Huh, no, no it's "ImNotJa-" ohhh nice try,  you just want to get intel on me. Not so easy to fool am I?" He shook his head and smiled proudly as if he'd thwarted a great plot against him. 

"Nope, that wasn't about you,  I was just having a laugh at a gloating, troublesome guy." She sighed. 

"Nnn I was just having a laugh at..." He mocked her. She frowned. 

"Yeah soo continuing on- I put back Mom's necklace on her dressing table where I met it and it's an easy win- but hey I'm generous too- they still get a really snazzy box." He let out a short, quick laugh.

 

"You could've just steadily increased the market price based on well advertised trademarked bot modifications and average client sales?  Let's say- if you don't get a months worth of purchases, aren't you making a loss with the number of trick boxes you buy? That is if you did all this LEGALLY. " Kimiko chastised quickly. She had some business management knowledge from being around her father's company-Tohomiko electronics and the advice sort of flopped out automatically, unfortunately to the wrong type of person. Embarrassing. 

 

Jack froze up. "Ah-  yeah...I never thought of it like that." He cleared his throat, not saying anything more of it and began to work at the large box again. " Heck, I just said "tricking people into buying a trick box sounds like an awesome ironic evil thing to do." he mumbled, scratching his chin.  

 

Kimiko breathed in loudly and then sighed out a groan, "Do you even think about who you're selling those bots too? What they could do to people in the world with the weapons you give them?"   

 

"Yes they're a bunch of fellow do-badders, but I never sell weaponized bots-why would I? " He answered confused. "Only Industrial ones. " 

 

"Oh?" Kimiko had to admit she was surprised to hear him say this. 

 

"I keep bots like those for myself. Ruling the world is for me to do, they way I choose- not for someone else. Once you subject to my ruling, I'll make sure you wont have to worry about them. " Jack nodded in approval of his own statement and grinned at her. "That sounded cool to you right? Do you think I should get it in print? " He asked her, considering it seriously. 

 

"Wow, you're still gross. For a second I almost felt, slightly glad that you were being genuinely considerate about others ... but I should've known- you're disreputable… how predictable. Why did I even bother to be curious?" She pressed a palm to her forehead.

 

_Instant headache._

 

"Ah…yeah…?" Jack asked slowly with a voice Kimiko could only describe as sounding unsettled. He paused in his examining to look over his shoulder at her pondering something. She refused to think on what ever he was about to say- he was so shameless. 

 

"And…" he began and she wasn't able to escape in time and noticed that his eyes warmly glazed over as if he was looking into a memory. "when I was a younger I also used to collect them because I loved solving riddles and odd puzzles- the shock you get when you find you actually figured something out that no one else around had. Then I'd sort of imagine there was something special and unique hiding inside from the countries they were bought in- made for me to discover and share when I finally completed the difficult task. It was something different for each box, sometimes abstract and cheesy like "time," or "happiness."  They're nifty like that. Then again I could only share my excitement with myself as I'd get new ones sent to me from the 'rents whenever they were out on business." Jack half smiled but this time it didn't reach his eyes. Kimiko had to stop herself from trying to analyse what he'd said.

 

"Hmm…" She paused. " That's innocent and all- for once- but with this one, once it's open, what's really hiding away inside?" She asked troubled. 

 

Jack's face suddenly got serious.

 

"...Like I said- we'll get to that.." He answered, his tone much less certain this time around. "Wait for a sec, gotta concentrate. It'll be five minutes at this rate." He bit at his lip again. "Ok, I think I got it."

 

He was like an ancient hacker. Where as she could break into complex computer systems, he could break into composite physical structures. Kimiko watched as Jack ran back and forth pulling, twisting and dissecting parts of the box. With each alteration he made, a segment of the box would either sink inward or jut outward. He'd asked her to pull a lever on one side of the box whilst he pushed the other because the box was too big for him to do it with his two hands and she didn't even bother to refuse- being too impatient to see what was inside so that they could move on.

All in all something was actually happening- not to mention Jack was doing it in one turn, no mistakes. He sucked at many things but he really was a genius, no joke and it was hard for her to even think his name and "genius" in the same sentence.  They'd been desperate and in a hurry a month ago so she hadn't let it sink in, but the fool had created a time machine. Seriously. Too bad he wasted it all on destruction.  Kimiko thought ruefully.

 Before they were forced into the Labyrinth Lock he'd always made it obvious that he wanted nothing but to cause her and her friends trouble in the name of himself and the Heylin side but at least then she didn't try to make sense of it and took it for what it was-just bad . Even though he was still clearly as spoiled rotten as before, now and back with the time machine, he seemed to have developed this annoying habit of blurring the lines- acting helpful and then settling back down to selfish, scheming ways. It could all be part of a master plan to mess with her psyche in league with the Wu, but she knew Jack, he was smart with certain things, but not that smart. The stupid Wu must have plotted to force her, and was probably even enjoying it, to come face to face with some different sides of the idiot Spicer that she wouldn't always see on their usual face-offs. Then again, if he wasn't looking to aim for good over evil, she wouldn't give him the time of day.

 

"Um…"

 

Kimiko slipped out of her thoughts when she heard a series of pained groans and a rusty squeak.

 

"It's the last thing- I know it and I can probably do it but my arms are a little worn out from all the…tweaking, so…" Jack said with feigned nonchalance in between panting.

 

He was struggling to turn the thick spiral emblem at the top of the box. Kimiko climbed up, stood opposite Jack, planted her feet firmly down and grabbed hold of the spiral.

 

"Clockwise?"

 

"Anti."

 

"From my position or yours?"

 

"Yours."

 

"How many spins?"

 

"Two 360° rotations."

 

She began to twist. It stuck momentarily and then continued with ease. Definitely not as difficult as Jack made out but his strengths seemed to lie only in his mathematical brain. The emblem rose up high and vanished magically. They heard a loud, clicking sound which to her had to be a sign that the box had unlocked.

 

"You figured it out! Aw yeah!" Kimiko grinned. "Oh that shock you get when you realise you're strong enough to open the top of a box that no one else around you could!"

 

"Yeah baby! WHO DA MAN?" Jack crowed getting ready to do a little dance and then he paused," Wait that sounded familiar… are you laughing at me?"

 

"Nope." Kimiko lied simply. 

 

"Well at least I got you to remember what I said," he said and parried with a grin. She scowled. "Peace truce...remember? Go easy on me..." he added cautiously. She flicked him hard on the forehead. Jack rubbed at it whilst muttering curses.

 

"Truce-ish. Now to really open this thing." Kimiko jumped down to face the side of the box. " We'll need to lift the lid. Grab it from the opposite side to give us space to move around- it'll be heavy." She warned.

 

"Hah, I thought you were Supergirl?" Jack sneered but did what she asked.

 

"You said it. But, even Supergirl may call upon the assistance of a wee peon." Kimiko sighed matter-of-factly.

 

"This peon will become your king…" Jack grumbled audibly on his end.

 

"Alright Pandora, we're opening your box." Kimiko mused. She began to heave her side over to the right whilst Jack struggled to find a good grip on it. It made no difference anyway, for as soon as they started, a blinding light erupted from the inside and began to seep out, trickling down the sides of the box in long tendrils.

Kimiko stepped back and watched apprehensive as the threads of light began to converge to a central point on her face of the box. The light suddenly expanded and then vanished as quickly as it came. However, it left somethings behind- six fragmented shards of what appeared to be a mirror- like material, it glistened like glass in light. Kimiko walked towards it to get a better look.

 

On the box's face were parts of a face…but they weren't hers.

 

Jack let out a low yelp and his words came out frantic, "why is my reflection bits of you!?"

 

"You're seeing me?" Kimiko asked to clarify, because the reflection that greeted her was segments of Jack's face separated by a half inch of space in between. It was odd as one fragment contained only one facial feature. 

 

"Am I over there? Give me my face back, let's swap." Jack panicked.

 

"Calm down. Our actual faces are still the same Sherlock. " Kimiko quickly turned away, rubbed her face down and looked over her body to make sure her features were still hers. She breathed a sigh of relief- if she had to go through the rest of this place in Jack's body…Kimiko faced the"mirror" directly; the top shard had Jack's forehead , two had an eye each, the middle shard had his nose and cheeks, below that was one with his mouth and a final fragment for his chin. She tried to experiment with it. Kimiko moved her face away and glanced back at the fragments from the side of her eye. Jack's reflection was still there.

 

"Oye where did you go?" Jack asked, his real, oblong head peeping over at her from his end of the box.

 

"Just keep staring at it." She instructed. She looked directly in it again.

 

"Okay you're back," he said.

 

Kimiko pressed her lips together, thinking.

 

"Hey Spicer, face the glass directly and say something."

 

"Something?"

 

The fragment with his mouth moved to match the words.

 

"My mouth- I mean your mouth- I mean my part of the reflection didn't move when I said that." Jack observed, his voice and words flecked with confusion. 

 

"This isn't a mirror, it's more like we're seeing each other through the box even with our height difference- an enchanted window maybe?  Except each pane or shard shows just one part of the others' face, but we'll only appear in it if we stand right in front of it."  Just when they'd thought it could be all over, the Wu held firm to the last laugh. Well, she hadn't expected it to be that simple. 

 

"Yeah I'm seeing you speak now. It's not very Sciencey…" Jack deliberated.

 

"Nah, we're back to good old fashioned Wu magic." She concluded warily. 

 

"The box didn't open and we haven't gotten any closer to the exit- instead we get some messed up kaleidoscope, " Jack groaned. "I screwed up again didn't I…?"

 

Kimiko lip read rather than heard him ask himself that last question, she watched his mouth steadily slant into an aggravated grimace and his eyes cast off to the side. He probably didn't remember that she could see him clearly. That he wasn't hidden.

 

_Was that really what he said? Doesn't he always just deny everything about himself and act so proud even when no one's looking?_

 

She paused and battled with her inner self. Her conscience and pity won over in the end-but it almost didn't. However, she deliberated that she should probably say it- because it had been a bit impressive and helpful- even though she'd never thought in her life that she'd be trying to console Jack Spicer in the slightest.

 

"No Spicer, surprisingly enough this one is on the Wu, it's probably just another test."

 

"…You heard what I ...er…said…? I swear I said it real quiet? Doesn't matter- I was kidding, Jack Spicer doesn't screw up." His voice cracked and he cleared his throat and cackled, attempting to correct himself.

 

"I didn't hear anything…" She replied honestly.

 

"Mm r-really…? Then go ahead and ignore that." Jack's eyes veered from left to right guiltily. He could be so obvious sometimes.

 

"I saw you say it you doofus. I must be crazy because you're an idiot after all." That she didn't have to battle with to say, the insults just flowed out naturally. " I can still read your lips- the window remember?" She rolled her eyes.

 

"Y-yeah. Right, makes sense…I was distracted. Man, this is hilarious, Jack Spicer is talking to himself, but to your face!" He laughed, it was an overly loud, forced sound. 

 

"Why do you keep referring to yourself in the third person?"

 

"Dunno. Minor identity crisis?" He coughed. 

 

"Whatever. All I was trying to say was- and this isn't a compliment or anything- just an observation-" Kimiko folded her arms. It really was a little funny though- talking to his face in pieces- it looked like a Picasso painting. But, better than saying it to his real face. 

 

"I know that you've always been and are...sort of… just about...," It was a difficult and awkward string of words to unleash in one go, " a genius." She managed to vocalize. " No need to brag about it all the time- i know you didn't mess up- finally." She couldn't make her words sound that pretty. 

 

Kimiko had leaned upon the fragment which showed one of Jack's eyes as support for the things she just decided to say out loud. Just as she observed how his eye widened in shock, the fragment shone red, flipped to it's underside and reflected her own soft blue eye instead of Jack's piercing crimson one.

 

"Gah! What the haunted heck…this is so wrong!" She gasped out. Despite the fact that something had  triggered a change in the shards- the combination of one part of her face with the rest of Jack's was just weird!

 

"What, what, what!? You're making me have a panic attack!" Jack skidded around the box to her side. He stopped and frowned when he caught her staring at the reflection of her eye from different angles… Jack's own face had vanished from her side because he'd moved.

 

"My mascara got so smudged whilst we were in here…I look like Frankenstein's bride." Kimiko mumbled to herself. She hadn't seen a mirror in hours. She began to wipe at her eye lid.

 

"Hah?" Jack raised an eyebrow.

 

"Come see." She motioned to him.

 

"If you look like the undead? I can tell you that without looking in the glass. Personally I go for the smudge-proof guyliner." He answered innocently . 

 

"Not that, idiot, see, it's my eye." She pointed at the fragment.

 

"Yes, you do have one of those so…?" He was honestly perplexed. " HEY! It's your eye, when did you put it there?" Jack carelessly leaned  against her shoulder to check it out. Kimiko knocked him off with her elbow.

 

"I don't know…But it's possible that the goal is to turn all the parts back to our face..." She said pensively.

Jack scooted her over clumsily to take a look at his eye, "this is really interesting- I wonder if I can recreate the concept… Jack Spicer's Evil Hall of Mirrors? I wont say anymore- it'll clue you in on future plans." He stroked at his chin, scheming.

 

She nudged him back out of the way. He almost fell over. 

 

"Can we just concentrate on how to get rid of this thing? Okay, so first we stood directly in front of them and saw each other. I figured out that if one of us moves away the view of the parts of the other's face doesn't disappear for them but that their face vanishes for the person on the opposite side- like looking through a window. Next you were in denial…then what happened…?"

 

"Then you complimented me." Jack gave her a thumbs up, beaming.

 

"I told you it wasn't a compliment." Kimiko folded her arms again.

 

"You saaid…." Jack hopefully encouraged her to continue.

 

"Then I clearly said some very poorly chosen words and that I know you didn't mess up, then it went red and flipped around." Jack tried to pull up a shard to see if he could manually turn it.

 

"No luck." He said, disappointing.

 

"Hmm, "understand one to know, then know one to understand."" Kimiko repeated carefully. "The use of the word "then" splits up the sentence into two parts. If that clue pertains to this box then, maybe you understanding the mechanism led to us knowing how to open it. That would cover: "understand one to know"?"

 

"Uh huh, then what's "know one to understand?"" Jack studied her attentively also crossing his arms.

 

"Well, right before I saw my reflection I'd said those bad words and that I know you didn't mess up. I believed it too."

 

"You of all people actually believed I was right?" Jack's tone suggested disbelief and his voice was soft and gravelly. His eyes flitted away from hers.

 

Kimiko also glared in the opposite direction " And? So what…there was evidence, the box lit up didn't it? Didn't expect someone like me to know anything?" She scowled. 

 

"That's not what I meant. I meant I didn't expect you, my headstrong, critical, rival, to take me on." Jack answered. 

 

She didn't respond. So she'd had the intention of making him feel slightly less stupid than he was because he'd tried to focus on helping rather than encouraging stress.

 

Jack suddenly perked up, he tried to make an attempt at common sense.

 

"Okay, what if maybe the "one" here means "us"- I just mean that collectively and not in any funny way so don't get mad," he added guardedly, "and maybe we have to say what we know-"

 

"-or rather something we know about the other that's true." Kimiko finished.

 

"Hold up, let me go back to my spot." He trudged back around the box. When back to his side he began to speak again and in a voice that was boisterous and clear. "Well that'd confirm that now a whole two people in my life have openly acknowledged my greatest strength! You and this trick box, Ha!" Jack beamed and his smile spread from one end of the fragment to the other.

 

_That definitely did come out sadder than I'm sure he intended…_

 

"Okay shoot, what do you know about me? I wonder if it'll work if I just tell you something and once you've learned it, it means you know it… but then again… it's more fun to hear how well you think you know Jack Spicer. This is like a game show, I love it. Now try to get all your brilliant facts right, there's a lot." She heard the wicked glee in Jack's voice. She made sure Jack heard her loud grumble.

 

"Alright, here goes" she grinned dangerously.

 

"Why..are you smiling like that..? You're scaring me…"

 

"Good that will prove my first point- I know you're practically afraid of almost everything!" Kimiko waited expectantly for a shard to turn.

 

"Huh? It didn't flip over." She frowned, she was 100% sure that would've produced results.

 

"Seriously? That's weird." Jack moaned.

 

"I know right, it's weird… maybe there's something else I didn't do. Maybe I should've left out the "almost,"" Kimiko wondered and then noticed as Jack's one fragmented eye twitched as realization dawned on him.

 

"Listen, I am not  _ **that**_  scared! " He berated. 

 

"You so totally are- I'm sure even your shadow would give you nightmares." She teased, snickering.

 

"I know you think I'm a coward but I'm not- I'm just- acutely aware! I'm a cultivation of past, uncomplicated post traumatic stress and the highly developed survival instincts of an Armadillo." Jack rambled. She noticed that he went on like that whenever he was feeling cornered. So she didn't interrupt- a less panicked Jack was a better Jack.

 

He suddenly let out a low shout.

 

"Wait… don't move," he addressed Kimiko between steadying breaths, " I'm all good…I think it worked- I can see my nose."

 

"So what did you do differently?" She asked. Confused about; what he did and- him in general.

 

"I'd said that I know you think I'm a coward and I sort of poked at your nostril to teach you a lesson." Jack explained.

 

"How does that make sense? Don't pick my nose Jack." Kimiko glowered.

 

"Poking your nose, big difference."

 

Kimiko suddenly figured it out, "The physical contact is also the trigger!" She informed him, "and see- your shadow will scare you."

 

"It's my reflection, bigger difference. I was just …surprised. " Jack corrected in his usual raspy voice that fluctuated from lows to highs. He was calm again.

 

"The trick box knows you more than you do." Kimiko snorted. "Right, let's get on with this then." Okay, all she had to do was say five more things she knew and believed were true about Jack Spicer and she'd be done with her side. She had this.

 

"Jack."

 

"Yes?"

 

"I know that you…well I know that… um you…" A minute rolled by.

 

"They might've put too little windows on your side with everything you've said so far." Jack commented bitterly and clicked his tongue with impatience.

 

_Damn box, why do I have to say what I know about Jack? We're not friends or anything else, why should I even know anything about him?_

 

"Nothing? Really? Eh no worries." Jack said after some time, sounding ticked and contradicting his words. "Heh, my turn then-" She didn't like that dry laugh at all.

 

"I know that up to six months ago you've never dated anyone and dream to one day find a guy who's kind, smart, funny and romantic. Aw man how sappy can you get- it's gaggy... I mean, using a word like "dream?"  "Ambition, mission, enterprise," now those are neat words! Ooh it worked! Thanks for my left eye."

 

"HOW THE **HECK** DO YOU KNOW THAT!?" She belted out, the ground trembled slightly.

 

"Hey hey…my bad, inside voices. I had to find something to say and very quickly…" He was attempting to sedate her. "I saw it up as your Mindbook status message. Funny, but that site is usually for nerds like me." He cackled a gloat- before pausing uncomfortably. 

 

"Crap," She groaned, "I'm totally private-ing my account! I'll encode extra security measures too!" Kimiko usually enjoyed social media and anything net-related for that matter but at that moment she hated it with a passion. "Plus, that status was old!" She cried, come to think of it, why should she have to defend herself to Jack Spicer? She was only almost fifteen, plenty of years left in her life! She was tempted to leave her spot and go slap him, but that would only waste life.  She saw Jack's mouth open to speak again,

 

"So...does that mean you're dating someone now? Is it one of the Xiaolin weirdos? Don't tell me... is it Opi? The only great thing he has going for him is his missing nose!" He snickered. 

 

"Shut up. That's Omi, and definitely none of your business- that's for sure."

 

"You're right. Doesn't matter." He replied.

 

"You're like what four-?" Kimiko taunted.

 

"I'm F-"

 

"Five? Already?" She cut him off to get back at him. Not taking him on seemed to be a pet peeve. 

 

"No." he continued, successfully annoyed.

 

"Fif-"

 

"Fifty? Here's an idea. Maybe you should date Wuya!" She feigned a tone of delight. 

 

"Let me finish!" His voice began to waver like a kid about to throw a tantrum. "Fifteen. Sixteen in April."  He added importantly. Like she wanted to know his birthday- even though her curiosity might have. 

 

"I'm so sure you've never dated anyone either…better yet I know you haven't dated anyone. Yes, it's my chin!"

 

"I didn't date your chin…I'm the kinda guy who dates his job and enjoys the company of his own self."  Jack's said it as proudly as one who'd won a contest. "All the ladies will love me later-you'll see," he continued.

 

"They wont kid." She frowned.

 

His lips pursed.

 

"You're actually much better when you aren't lying to yourself." She offered plainly.

 

"Yeah whatever…I'm gonna keep going," he scowled. "I know that you hate cats and are a huge dog person- mouth! Hey, we have that in common but my dogs are hound bots- my dad doesn't want pets because of his allergies. I also know you don't mind a good social but would prefer spending time on your phone, surfing the web and trying out the latest gaming apps or taking a relax at a beach or day spa. Heelloo my wonderful chin! I'm like that too except my beach is the downstairs jacuzzi. Real beaches are packed with actual human beings, bleh." His teeth bared as he cringed.

 

Kimiko froze, she was sure she hadn't posted up those things on Mindbook. She could only articulate one response for Jack for the time being-

 

"Stalker alert."

 

"What…no! It's more like know your enemy more than you know yourself. It's tactics. I'm in the lead anyway. Here's to sweet tactics." Jack's satisfied smirk spurred her on, she could know as much about him as he did her.

 

 _I_ _guess I have to just let it all out then…_

 

Kimiko breathed in heavily and reluctantly. If she said it as quickly as she could it'll be less bothersome.

 

"I know that the Monkey staff is your favourite Wu because you like to monkey around, I know that you have an irrational fear of the dark and tight spaces probably something to do with the traumatic experience you mentioned just now and I now know that you have a passion for playing with old puzzle boxes because it makes you feel accomplished. Alright, one to go, that wasn't as hard as I'd thought it would be!" Kimiko cheered, take that Jack. He cut off her celebration with an unanticipated observation.

 

"Er- its not that it matters to me or anything but I'm surprised by how many things you committed to memory." Jack said and she could actually hear the bewilderment in his voice.

 

It was definitely annoying. As Jack was literally the only living thing to communicate with in the Lock, Kimiko realised that she was starting to recognise his moods without having to see him.

 

"Don't be-" she said hastily. "I can soak up and retain info well- no matter what kind, plus I do that with everyone."

 

_Right now it's a meddlesome trait._

 

"Good, I'd never want to be too predictable." Jack answered mechanically.

 

"You might want to run that over with your attack style."

 

"H-hey!" He complained. No one said anything for a moment. Kimiko had a feeling it was because they were both trying to figure out another fact they knew that they could use to outsmart the other, but it was all so silly- she really just had to say any little thing she knew about him- but after his reaction to her analysis and memory, she found herself overthinking it and acting  extra cautious.

 

"Now that you mentioned the trick box- I didn't want to bring it up anymore because enemies and all that- and I've been told to stop reading into things as it messes with my evil rationalization skills…" Jack said that less as a sentence but as one long word strung together. "When you said I didn't mess up and called me a genius- true as that might be- were you…" He paused, "were you possibly- as unfathomable as it was- trying to make me feel better?"

 

_Why did I have to go an run my mouth?_

 

Kimiko knocked a fist repeatedly against her nose bridge which was the part she knew Jack couldn't see, she wasn't going to give him the pleasure.

 

_I'll deny it, I'll deny it with so much conviction._

 

"If you were then…" he continued before she had a chance "then, I'd have to say I know that you could be pretty kind, when you're up for it. Heh, would you look at that, it's my forehead! " His tone changed from conflicted to jubilant in seconds.

 

"Huh…? that's…I didn't." Kimiko spluttered in her defense.

 

 _Being kind to Spicer- that would never happen._   _Come on girl find your words…you know he's just trying to bait you. Jack doesn't just give out compliments._

 

"I don't want any of your insincere complimen-"

 

"-I also knew that even a tough girl like you could be shocked by words like that. " He finished triumphantly. He'd almost confused her for a second there- not again. "Haha I'm all back! Look Kimiko, it's my face …no wait don't come look yet, finish your side. I won't move." He added, proud.  

 

"Man I hate you. I know that you'll lose to **a tough girl like me**  when we're all done here!" She growled loudly _._

 

The last shard which had Jack's right eye reflected in it shone red and flipped over, the pieces melded together and the final person staring back at her was her own irritated reflection.

 

"YES! I'm all done, open up box, there better be a way to get out of here kept up inside!" She celebrated.

 

Jack came sprinting around the corner and complained at her,

 

"I cry foul! How could that have worked!? How would it know I'll lose? Lose in what way exactly?" His voice grew pitchy.

 

"Never mind that.." she silenced him suddenly cautious. The box had shuddered and it's lid divided into two and began to swing back on it's own.

 

It was opening.

 

Light seeped once more from it's center the further it opened. She and Jack readied themselves.

 

As the haze of light from the open box dimmed, within it something large squirmed.


End file.
